Once a Ranger: The Legend Continues
by Delgado
Summary: Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. Truer words were never spoken as the Retro Rangers continue to fight evil. The battle is on...
1. Finding Out

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_**AN: I'm a little late with this fic, it was originally going to be posted back in July for the 1 year anniversary of 'Once a Ranger', but I decided to write some more chapters and post it as my Christmas present :p**_

_**Anyway, here we go with my version of what could have happened after 'Once a Ranger'...ENJOY!**_

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"...so that was one of the main contributions to the end of the Triassic period and cons-...", Tommy Oliver looked away from his class at the sound of a knock on the door; "Come in".

The door slowly opened, and in walked a very familiar man; "I'm looking for a Dr. Oliver?", he tried not to smirk as he said it.

Tommy decided to play along with the game; "That's me, if you wanna wait outside for five minutes..."

"Oh, sure", the man replied before exiting the room and shutting the door behind him.

Tommy fought hard not to roll his eyes as he turned back to his students; "Sorry about that class...as I was saying, the end of t-...", he groaned inwardly as the bell rung, signaling the end of class. The students immediately rushed to pack away their things as Tommy shouted over them; "Remember I want that assignment in for the lesson on Monday!"

Various muffled replies were issued from the group of students as they quickly filed out of the room, eager for lunch.

The door was left wide open and Tommy had almost forgotten about the man who had conveniently interrupted him just minutes before until his head poked around the doorframe; "Is it safe to come in?"

Tommy grinned at his long-time friend who grinned back as they clapped each other on the back; "Hey Adam, how've you been?"

"Not bad, not bad at all, in fact...life's been interesting over the last couple of weeks..."

"Oh yeah?", the teacher looked keen to know more, but an odd thought struck him first; "Hang on, how'd you know that I work here?"

"A little bird told me", Adam replied quickly and his face turned into a smirk; "_Doctor_ Oliver!", he laughed; "How did _you_ end up as a Doctor? And a Doctor of Paleontology too!"

"How do you know that?", Tommy asked suspiciously yet again.

"That little bird i've been talking to is _really_ informative", he answered before he carried on laughing to himself; "_Doctor_ Tommy Oliver!"

The former Ranger looked distinctly unimpressed by his friend's antics; "Okay, so come on...what's your story?", he asked, determined to change the subject.

"Well...", Adam began slowly before eyeing up the door and shutting it firmly; "You know San Angeles?".

"Yeah, it's about 40 miles down from here, I know a guy there..."

"Ah", Adam had put two and two together with Tommy's infamous history and the hobbies of...;"It wouldn't be Andrew Hartford by any chance would it?"

"Don't tell me he dragged you into it all as well...", he replied, signaling the answer; "He had me testing prototype weapons for his Rangers for _weeks_!"

"Something like that...", Adam grinned; "...Just a _little_ more exciting..."

"What do you mean?", Tommy watched him suspiciously. His friend slowly reached behind his back before drawing out a _very_ familiar looking object. His eyes widened; "No way...", he found himself staring at the morpher in front of him; it looked brand-new with the golden coin embossed with the Mastodon firmly in place.

Adam watched Tommy's reaction; "Well, what can I say? Old habits die hard...you should know".

"But _how_ did you get this back?", he still looked stunned.

"To cut a long story short, an ally of Andrew's – the Sentinel Knight, restored our powers..."

"Hang on..._our_ powers?"

"There's five of us", Adam explained.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, we're all veteran Rangers; there's me, Tori, Xander, Bridge – but he came from the future, so he's not here anymore..."

"The future?"

"Long story...and then there's Kira..."

"Kira", Tommy repeated, groaning, he had now realised who the 'little bird' was that had leaked his whereabouts; among other things, to Adam. "So you're all Rangers again?"

"Yup, all Rangers again".

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Kira tapped her hand along to the beat in the car on her long journey back from New York. She had finally received the first copy of her first album while she was in San Angeles and it was due to be released in the next few weeks.

However, the big city lifestyle was not one she was keen on and she had finally persuaded the record company to let her move back into her home town.

As Kira eventually pulled up in Reefside, she knew immediately that it was the right decision. During her trip to San Angeles, she had realised just how much she missed her old life and friends.

The singer sat on a bench in the middle of the park where Conner liked to play soccer. Of course, she had kept in touch with the guys, Dr. O and Hayley, but none of them had seen her for a good few months. She contemplated who it would be best to see first and how best to announce her sudden return.

As her thoughts drifted however, Kira failed to notice the large number of strange-looking creatures that had suddenly appeared nearby. They were entirely black, with a thick red stripe down the centre of their bodies and a solid, curved horn in the middle of their foreheads.

The snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves as they approached brought Kira's mind back to the present as she turned in the direction of the noise. "What the-...", her expression was nothing short of shocked as the creatures launched themselves towards her.

Instantly, Kira's Ranger side kicked in as she narrowly avoided a blow to the head. She parried every attack sent at her from the unknown challengers and deftly threw her own right back at them.

The Ranger turned to glare at the monsters; "I've had enough of this...", she let out a window-shattering Ptera Scream before bringing her left wrist up sharply...

The shining Dino Bracelet, complete with gem transformed into a morpher; "DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

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Conner laughed and joked with Ethan and Trent as they made their way to the centre of the park with a soccer ball – Conner determined to improve Ethan's game.

The former Red Ranger's grin widened as he layed eyes on the sight before them; "Haha, look at these kids...", he nudged Trent; "I'm afraid they're not as good as the _real_ Power Rangers!"

Trent rolled his eyes at his friend's comment while Ethan's smile faded as he looked at the group of fighters closer; "I don't think they're kids Conner..."

Conner gave Ethan a weird glance, but he still moved further forward to look closer; "Okay, they've got good costumes, i'll give them that..."

"I'm serious!"

"Me too!", Conner argued, gesturing to the Yellow Ranger; "Number one; Kira's in New York, number two; those things are _not_ Tyrannodrones and number three; we lost our powers dude!"

"Yeah, but come on...no kid can fight like that", they watched as the 'kid' leapt over the weird creatures and took out what Conner could only call the Thundermax Blaster and fired mercilessly on them. The monsters all fell defeated and exploded into a cloud of flames and smoke.

"Okay, now do you see my point?", Ethan reiterated.

"But...", Conner struggled to argue back; "That can't be Kira...that's impossible..."

The Yellow Dino Ranger turned away from the destruction she had caused and immediately stopped when she saw the three bystanders.

Kira's eyes locked on to their's through the helmet; "Well I guess that's one way to tell them", she muttered to herself.

"Kira?", Trent called out hopefully.

The Ranger approached them slowly and lifted a wrist; "Power down".

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"Xander!", Nick shouted over the shelves towards the door to the Rockporium.

"Hey guys!", came the reply.

Xander was forced into a massive group hug as he reunited himself with his friends. "We were beginning to think that you weren't coming back!"

"I'd always come back for you V", he winked at her cheekily.

"Same old Xander", Madison laughed.

"Where've you been anyway?", Chip asked.

"It was great!", he started excitedly; "We fought all these monsters with all these Rangers..."

"Woah, hold it...", Nick stopped him; "You've been fighting monsters?"

"Yeah, I got my Ranger powers back!"

"Nice try, pull the other one!"

"No, seriously, look...", he showed them his now fully-functioning morpher.

"Woah...", the former Rangers around him elapsed into a stunned silence.

"How'd you do that?", Vida broke the quiet.

"I don't know, I met four former Rangers and then the Sentinel Knight got all our powers back from the morphing grid or something...well, _we_ never technically lost our powers anyway...and _then_ we went to help the Ranger team in San Angeles against this big bad guy..."

Nick stopped him again; "So let me get this...you and some former Rangers have got your powers back and you've been off fighting monsters".

"Yup!"

"Oh, well good for you", Nick commented, before heading back to stack the shelves again, the others following close behind.

"Guys?", Xander looked confused at their lack of enthusiasm; "Hey, what's up?", he watched them for a few seconds before he came to his conclusion; "Are you jealous?". Four faces turned to stare at him disbelievingly.

Xander's face lit up; "You are aren't you?", he glanced around them again; "You're _jealous_!"

The former Rangers all glared at him once more; "We do NOT miss putting our lives in danger everyday!"

Xander evidently took great delight in his torments and danced around them all; "I've got my powers back...I've got my powers back...i've got my powers back!...", he sang teasingly. Nick fought hard to restrain himself, whilst Vida cracked her knuckles menacingly. "I've got my powers back...i've got my powers back!..."

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"I'm _so_ glad you're back Tor, I don't think I could cut teaching my classes _and_ half of yours for much longer", Dustin's relief was evident.

"Sorry guys, i'll give you more warning next time..."

"Next time?", Shane spluttered; "That's better not be soon!"

"Hey, you dumped us with _your_ classes too remember?"

"Yeah, but that was for the skateboarding championships".

"So?"

"So, what were you doing that was so important that you ran off one day without saying anything except 'Cover my classes, i'll tell you later'?"

"I-...", Tori was about to explain when the ground shook slightly as about 30...figures appeared.

"What are these people doing here?", Dustin looked confused more than anything.

The 'people' all suddenly drew a small, yet lethal-looking dagger each in response and advanced towards the trio.

"Dustin, I don't think these are people...", Shane stated as he eyed up their unusual appearance, not to mention the large horn on their foreheads.

The three shifted into a fighting stance as the creatures drew closer. "I don't think they're on our side", Tori surmised.

"Then what are we waiting for...", Shane nodded towards them. His friends got the message and quickly followed suit as they charged at the monsters.

Dustin dodged each of the various blades coming towards him and launched into a series of powerful spin-kicks, which resulted in many of the enemy on the floor.

Shane used his Ninja powers to full advantage as he struck out with his fist at each creature before disappearing and then reappearing out of thin air as if by magic, well out of harm's way.

Tori quickly ducked beneath the blades and swept the feet out from under most of the group surrounding her. She then followed Dustin's suit and spin-kicked the rest to join their comrades on the ground.

As she waited for the creatures to regain their feet, the water Ninja spotted another hoard of them coming towards her. Tori stepped back slightly before calling to her friends; "Guys, there's something I need to tell you..."

Both Shane and Dustin turned for long enough to see her now facing two small armies of the the creatures and to witness what happened next...

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM, HA!"

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Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter, I thought it would be better for the Rangers to tell their respective teams about regaining their powers before I launch into the story (Some of this may also play a part later on ;) )

**And for anyone who's been reading '20 Rangers, 20 Questions' or 'It's Your Choice', if you wouldn't mind taking a look at my profile for a few seconds, there's a little message for you guys there.**

_**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, ALL COMMENTS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS!**_


	2. Just Like Old Times

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_AN: I hope you all enjoyed the first appearances of the major characters (most of them anyway), so let's see what happens when we bring everyone together..._

_Thanks to all my first reviewers! I didn't quite expect such a good response! So because i'm feeling nice and festive, chapter 3 will be posted on Christmas Day ;)_

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"Why have two forces destroying the world when you can have three!", the shadowy figure stood atop his mountainous lair and surveyed the Earth below. He lifted a scarred hand into the air and within moments the skies were filled with threatening black clouds.

"Now all I have to do is wait!"

The creature leapt down from his perch and into the world below...

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In the town of Reefside, a terror was evident in the people that hadn't been seen since the might of Mesogog had threatened them three years ago. But the mere presence of the monster before them now sent them running in every direction as it strode mightily through the streets.

On the other side of town, Xander felt the presence of evil amongst the people as he hurried purposefully in search of its source. He barely noticed the lightning fast streak that passed him and he watched as it landed shortly afterwards on one knee. The figure stood to reveal Tori complete in Ninja uniform. "Tori!", Xander ran towards her; "Is it just me, or is this just not adding up?" She nodded back at him in agreement as they gazed up at the darkened sky, with the odd flash of lightning surging across it.

"We're not the only ones then...", Kira's voice reached them as she walked towards the two with Adam beside her; "I had some unwelcome visitors too".

"Visitors?", Xander and Adam said in unison, confused looks on their faces.

"Yeah, I had them...", Tori agreed; "Black, red stripe, ginormous horn..."

"Oh yeah, those are the guys", Kira confirmed.

Adam shook his head worriedly; "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

As if on cue, a bold bolt of lightning struck behind the group and thunderously loud footsteps soon followed...The Rangers turned in unison to come face to face with a threatening-looking creature.

It stood no less than seven feet tall and an impossibly thick silver armour surrounded it's body. However, sharp spines stuck out of the armour on all sides and the heat coming from it seemed unbearable. It's head bore three horns and two jet black eyes that looked like the abyss. Scars littered the exposed parts of the scaly flesh and two curved swords hung from it's sides. The piercing eyes stared down at the Rangers as they took in it's features.

"Let me guess...", came the ice-cold voice from within the creature; "The rest of the Power Rangers?"

Already knowing the answer, he continued; "Let me introduce myself Rangers, I am Osirico, I know that you have already met my sons; Moltor and Flurious...", the Rangers were still silent as the monster took slow steps towards them and they in turn stepped backwards; "I'll make this short...", he growled; "I came here to rid this planet of its defenses, mainly being _you, _to make way for my sons' ingenious plans. They already have one set of Rangers to deal with and they don't need another!", with that he shouted into the air; "Hornets,attack!"

As the monster walked away and faded into mist, the Rangers were left still reeling and with a hundred footsoldiers to deal with.

"I guess these are the guys that attacked you?", Xander asked.

"Oh yeah", Kira replied.

"Only this time they're on fire...", Tori added, noting the flames issuing from them.

"Let's not waste any time then", Adam concluded.

"I hear that", Tori quickly accessed her Ninja spirit and water began to form in her hands and she rapidly flung the torrents which came crashing down on the Hornets, quickly extinguishing the flames.

"Let's go guys!", Adam brought out his morpher; "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM, HA!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP, HA!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

"Mastodon!"

"Power of Water!"

"Ptera Power!"

"Strong as a tree, Green Mystic Ranger!"

The four Rangers charged into battle, each with their chosen weapon drawn. Adam was the first to make contact as he slammed into the first few Hornets, sending them flying everywhere and the follow-up strikes with the Power Axe proved to be lethal.

Xander's tactics proved to be very similar in using brute strength over agility and speed as he summoned the Mystic Fighters.He swiped at the nearest group of footsoldiers, taking them out with one blow and simply swept the legs out from under any that remained standing before moving on to the next to get in his way.

"Flood Attack!", Tori summoned her elemental powers as the group of Hornets facing her suddenly plummeted down into an underwater world. The Blue Ranger unsheathed her Ninja Sword and began to attack the now helpless soldiers as they haplessly flapped around in the water. One quick strike to each of them from the sword was enough to severely weaken them as they were roughly thrown back on to dry land, the Ranger landing comfortably beside them; a succession of rapid fire from the Sonic Fin cemented their fate.

Kira drew her Thundermax Saber as she ran towards the Hornets, the weapon striking out in all directions, sending sparks flying from the enemies armor. The Yellow Ranger launched a torrent of high kicks towards one of the footsoldiers before planting a firm foot on it's shoulder and using it to thrust herself into the air. Quickly converting the saber to blaster mode, she fired on the inferior Hornets before casually landing as the creatures were destroyed.

The Rangers moved to stand together as a group and take a look at their handiwork as the skies turned back to their original blue colour; "Power down".

"Well, that was interesting", Tori commented.

"Looks like he's here to stay though", Kira added.

"Yeah, he's gonna be a big challenge for us", Adam finished.

"Us?", Xander looked at the Black Ranger curiously.

"Well, what do we think...can we take on this guy?"

"Well, we do have the suits...", Kira agreed.

"With only four of us?", Xander asked again.

"I call it a good challenge...i'm in", Tori put out her hand, palm down in the centre of the group, towards the others.

"Can't let you have all the fun", Kira's hand joined Tori's.

"Once a Ranger...", Adam put his hand in also and looked enquiringly at Xander.

"...Always a Ranger", Xander grinned at the others as his own hand joined the pile.

"So you're gonna do it then?", the Rangers all spun and were unsurprised to see Tommy stood there.

"Yeah...", Adam answered; "...But we're gonna need some help", he admitted. Each Ranger gestured from Tommy to the pile of hands between them.

"Come on Dr. O".

"What do you say?"

Tommy couldn't help but grin widely back at the group as he made his way over, firmly cementing his hand into the mix; "I wouldn't miss it for the world".

The Rangers lifted their hands high into the air, filled with confidence; "Power Rangers!"

"One thing though, we might need some power upgrades, this guy seems _pretty_ tough", Adam hinted hopefully.

"And a base", Tori added.

"Tommy thought for a second about the latter; "I think i've got that covered...", he glanced at Kira, who instantly knew what he was thinking.

Adam looked around at everyone; "It feels just like old times".

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_AN: I hope this chapter was up to scratch, I know it was a bit short, but i'm trying not to miss out any important details that might be relevant later on._

_**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, ALL COMMENTS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKS!**_


	3. Back to Base

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

AN: Well here comes chapter 3, I hope you like what i've done so far and thanks for all the comments :)

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"Are you _seriously_ telling me that you live here man?", Adam surveyed the house within the forest they were currently driving towards with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Hey, what's wrong with my house?!"

"Nothing...", Adam replied quickly; "I just didn't see you as a country guy".

"There are bigger reasons why I live here", Tommy argued back.

"Like what?"

You're about to find out...", Xander perked his ears up at this; but Kira and Tori remained unphased as the jeep rolled to a stop outside the house.

Tommy led the way up the front porch and through the door as everyone looked around with mild interest, they stopped just outside the lounge, where there was a small chest stood against the wall.

"Don't you _ever_ get tired of dinosaurs?", Adam asked disbelievingly as he prodded the skeletal statue stood on the chest. The former Ranger merely grinned back at him as he watched his actions and five seconds later, the floor began to visibly move.

"What the...?", Xander quickly stood back as the stone flooring began to come apart. Adam also watched in astonishment; his finger still poised, as a staircase came into view that evidently led to somewhere underground. Kira and Tori however, were no strangers to the wonders of this house and surveyed the guys' reactions with amusement.

"After you...", Tommy gestured downwards to the team.

The Black Ranger glanced suspiciously towards Tommy before slowly making his way down the steep stone stairs, quickly followed by a curious Xander and with Tori, Kira and Dr. O bringing up the rear.

As the subterranean room came into light, it was a bunch of mixed reactions from the Rangers.

"Woah..."

"Nice...definitely more hi-tech than Rootcore..."

"Someone's been decorating since I was last here..."

"Okay man, I take back everything I said about you being just a school teacher...", Adam looked impressed with the completely refurbished Dino Lab. The Lab looked pretty much the same as it had before Zeltrax had trashed it in the battle with Mesogog two years ago except there was a slightly larger and updated computer and monitoring system, a few more random pieces of technology lying around and more rooms for storage.

"So will this be okay for our little base of operations?", Tommy asked hopefully.

"Definitely...", Xander settled himself in one of the large black chairs that resided by the computer; "I could get used to this...", he made himself comfortable before glancing to his side where the seat next to him suddenly swiveled around...

"Ah!", the movement caught the Green Ranger by surprise as the person in the other chair looked at him enquiringly.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot...", Tommy scratched the back of his neck apologetically; "Xander, meet Hayley".

"Hi...name's Xander", he flashed her his best smile and held out his hand.

"I figured", Hayley grinned; accepting the gesture.

The others showed their signs of greeting towards her, whilst a thought occurred to Adam; "Hang on Tommy...when we met...", he gestured between himself and the tech wizard; "You said that Hayley was just one of your 'good friends'...not your partner in crime!"

"I didn't want to shout about the fact that i've been a Power Ranger more times than I can remember and that i've confided it in a couple of people", he countered casually.

"Evidently", Adam shrugged it off; "Ah well, back to business".

"Yeah, so first off i'm gonna need your communicators so Hayley can put them all into sync with our communication system and each other".

"Huh?", Xander wore a very confused look on his face.

Tori rolled her eyes; "They're gonna make it so that we can talk to each other through our morphers", she quickly dumbed it down for him.

"Why didn't you say so?", he rummaged in his pockets for the Mystic Morpher and handed it to Tommy. The others quickly followed suit and Adam's communicator, Kira's Dino Morpher and the Wind Morpher were soon added to the mix.

Tommy handed them to Hayley, who wired them all up to form a circuit with the communications system. As she hit a few buttons, the various devices began to glow slightly with a golden pulsing light for about a minute as the Rangers watched curiously, before it quickly faded away again.

The morphers were wordlessly handed back to their respectful owners and donned or safely put away once more until Tommy spoke out; "These will also keep you in contact with us at all times and allow us to pinpoint your exact locations if you ever need backup,

I-"

The former mentor was abruptly interrupted by a fast-paced beeping that appeared to come from the computer screen; "What was that?", Xander asked curiously as they all peered over Hayley's shoulder to find the source of the issue.

"Not good...", she muttered as she brought up a live surveillance camera; "We've got trouble", she indicated to the large figure that was terrorizing civilians on the other side of town.

"Here we go again", Tori sighed as she eyed up the creature.

"You should be able to access your own modes of transport now that you have reclaimed your powers", Tommy hinted.

The Rangers nodded in understanding and rapidly exited through the sliding wall into the forest, morphing as they went...

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

Without even stopping to think, Adam, Kira and Tori then called into their morphers and in front of them materialized a sleek Black Shark Cycle, the Blue Tsunami Cycle and the Raptor Cycle.

"Feels good to be back...", Tori ran a hand down the bike before jumping on.

"I'll catch you up!", Xander called as the three Rangers sped off towards their target. "They're so gonna be stood up!", he flipped open his morpher and pressed in his chosen combination.

"_Galwit Mysto Aerotan!"_

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The Black, Blue and Yellow Rangers ground to a halt as out of nowhere, tens of Hornets dropped from the sky right in front of them.

"Will these guys ever give up?", Kira groaned as she glanced at the others.

"Not likely", Tori agreed.

"They're too stupid to know any better...", a sudden notion hit Adam; "Where's Xander?"

The female Rangers were silent as they looked between themselves and shrugged; "I don't-..."

"Coming down!", a voice shouted from high above their heads as a streamlined green machine flew rapidly towards them.

"I think we found him..."

"Then what are we waiting for, let's get these freaks...", Adam revved up his Shark Cycle before directing it towards the footsoldiers, unleashing a torrent of power as he blazed straight through them, running the unfortunate ones over.

Kira and Tori double-teamed the larger group as they fired their lasers directly towards the enemy, racing towards them before skidding to change direction and heading straight back at them with devastating results.

"Oh yeah!", the Green Ranger was enjoying every minute of his aerial assault on the far inferior Hornets as he circled the skies above them, occasionally sending bursts of laser fire towards them. He made for the final attack as he zoomed towards the ground whilst pulling out his Magistaff. The remaining creatures didn't know what hit them as they collapsed to the ground, destroyed.

Xander calmly leapt from his Racer to join the rest of the team as they came face to face with the true villain. "Twistor is my name, destruction is my game!", he roared menacingly as he destroyed small establishments with the turn of a wrist.

"Twistor?", Adam looked at him as if he was joking; "These monster names get worse every time!"

"And who are you to question me?!", he boomed.

"Do you really wanna know that?", Kira countered.

"I'll find out the old fashioned way!", Twistor clenched his fists slightly to produce two blades that protruded from each of his wrist guards, leaving him with two hands free to do as they pleased. The monster leapt straight up into the air before crashing back down to Earth and disappearing beneath it.

"Uh oh", was all Xander managed to say as the Rangers looked wildly around for any sign of the villain.

Suddenly, heaps of dirt and mud shot upwards as the creature flew out of the ground right within the middle of the group of Rangers. He deftly struck out with his non-handheld swords, scoring direct hits on both the Blue and Black Rangers before ducking beneath the Thundermax Saber to slash Kira across the shoulder.

Before Xander could reach him however, the monster disappeared into the Earth once more to shield himself. The Green Ranger groaned exasperatedly as he readied himself for the oncoming attack, but as he looked between his Magistaff and ground, he was struck by an idea...

"Magistaff, axe mode!", without waiting for the creature to resurface, Xander swung the axe high above his head before slamming it straight into the ground with as much strength as he could muster.

The land shook violently as the shockwaves tore through it, knocking the other Rangers off their feet and as hoped, a fountain of earth erupted a few meters away from them, spitting out a rather battered-looking Twistor.

"Had enough?", Xander was joined by his teammates as they stared down their foe. Without waiting for an answer, the Rangers all drew their respective blasters and Xander retained his Magistaff.

The Green Ranger produced long, thick vines from the weapon and they twirled through the air, tightly binding Twistor's arms to his sides.

"And this is what you get for messing with the Power Rangers...", Adam glared at the creature; "Fire!". Three colors of laser fire shot towards Twistor as his armor cracked and the blasts did their jobs, scattering the monster to the floor in several pieces.

"Too easy!", Xander commented cheekily as he clapped the others on the shoulders whilst grinning underneath the helmet.

No sooner had he said it did an eerie voice fill the skies; _"By the power of the Demons...arise!"_

The quartet slowly turned, looks of dread on their faces as what was left of Twistor became engulfed in a giant tornado...the winds disappeared and a fully regenerated monster stood in it's place.

"Oh man...", Adam strained his neck to see.

"Dr. O...", Kira called into her morpher; "Send the...", realization hit her; "Zords", she finished meekly.

"I guess we forgot about that", Tori stared up at the impossibly large Twistor as he leered down at them; "My Zord was destroyed..."

"Mine too..."

"Mine wasn't", Adam explained and the others' eyes lit up in hope; "It was just lost in time...", he finished and the looks on their faces fell.

"Guess it's time for another plan Xander!", the Mystic Ranger pulled out his morpher.

"Yours _wasn't_ destroyed?"

"How did you keep it hidden for so long?"

"I didn't...", he explained smugly; "I _am_ my Zord...". He punched the numbers into his morpher - 1...2...5...; "It's Titan time!"

"_Galwit Mysto Prifior!"_

The others watched in awe as the Green Ranger magically grew until he was the same size as a small skyscraper, armor encasing his body until it bore resemblance to a mythical creature.

"Ancient power, Mystic Minotaur!"

"You think that just because you're taller, you can defeat me?", Twistor was clearly unimpressed.

"Size doesn't matter!", Xander retorted, before shifting into a fighting stance.

Seeing this, the monster switched tactics; "Catch me if you can!", he taunted as he once again plunged himself deep into the ground.

"Not again!", the Titan purposefully kept moving about at a decent pace, hoping to throw the creature off his position.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, with a growl-like battle cry, Twistor resurfaced in a flurry of dirt, yet he was quite some distance away from Xander. The Minotaur was quick to take advantage of this as he lowered his body and head, pointed the deadly horns towards his target. "Charge!"

Twistor, overcome by a mixture of shock and fear, was unable to remove himself from the Zord's path as its lethal horns swung and sent him hurtling to the ground with a large thud.

Dazed and bearing injuries, the monster was almost completely fearful as Xander brought a rather large axe into view. "Time to say goodbye!", he bore down on him yet again at great speed and struck out powerfully with the axe...

One blow was all it needed as sparks flew from Twistor's body and smoke became visible before he exploded into a cloud of flames.

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Tommy and Hayley sat deep in thought in the Dino Lab and feeling slightly, if not, very stupid, having not realised that only one of the four Rangers _actually_ had a fully-operational Zord.

"We're really sorry guys...", Tommy began upon hearing several pairs of feet approach them.

"Don't worry about it..."

"Yeah, it's not your fault Dr. O..."

"But it gives us a whole new problem", he stated honestly; "Where are we gonna get _four_ new Zords?"

There was a momentary silence between the group as they pondered the question, but after a few seconds, every pair of eyes seemed to rest on one person...

"Hayley?", Kira asked hopefully.

"Oh _come on_ guys..._four_ Zords?", she argued, disbelievingly.

"If anyone can do it, you can", Tommy encouraged.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?", she questioned, already knowing the answer.

The Rangers and Tommy shook their heads.

"Well...I _guess_...I could regenerate them using residual energy from the morphing grid", she wondered out loud; "But it would take time...and it still doesn't explain how to recover the Black Shogun, seeing that it was never technically destroyed in the first place..."

"Ah, well I think I can answer that one...", Adam pointed to the currently deactivated Alpha 6 that now stood in the corner of the room.

"Well...i'd better get to work then".

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	4. Moving In

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

AN: So thanks once again to everyone for your very kind reviews and here we go with chapter 4...

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"Welcome back Alpha", Tommy patted the robot on the shoulder like an old friend as it came to life.

"Thank you Tommy, i'm glad to be of use again", the metallic arms moved instinctively; "Just tell me how I can help".

"Well...", Tommy hoped for the best answer; "Can you access the timeline?", he jumped straight in.

"Of course, my new circuitry allows me to do so", Alpha tilted his head curiously.

"This might be a bit of a long-shot, but is there any chance of finding the Black Shogun Zord?", he asked.

"The Shogun Zords are only floating around in time itself, it never landed anywhere, so compared to many things, it will be easy to recover it", the robot replied.

"That's great!", Adam was overjoyed to hear that he would be reunited with his old partner in crime before long.

"That might be great, but I don't know how long it's gonna take me to regenerate the other Zords", Hayley sighed from the other side of the room as she watched the machines hard at work in the Zord bay from the surveillance cameras. They had been programmed to harness residual energy left behind in the morphing grid in order to rebuild the Zords from scratch and so far, they were less than half complete.

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"You sure you've got everything?", Kira asked as Xander dumped the last of his belongings into the back of Tori's van. The Green Ranger ran to take one last look around his house in Briarwood before shutting the door behind him.

"Nah, that's the lot", he hopped into the van beside Tori and Kira as they set off back to Reefside.

Becoming Rangers again had prompted Xander to move closer to where he was needed and live in Reefside, with Adam also having the same ideas, though he had politely declined the offer to do the trip which Tori had suggested where they stopped off at everyone's houses to pick up their belongings; his reason being that his were already on location.

Tori already lived close enough to the town anyway, with Blue Bay being literally a mile away, so in the end there was only the one stop in Briarwood before they made their way home. Kira had opted to come along for the ride only to stop the likely event of Xander driving Tori insane.

A couple of hours and various bizarre conversations later, the blue camper van rolled to a stop outside the place that Xander was now to call home. The Yellow and Blue Rangers helped him inside with his things until they dumped the last box in the lounge.

"Man, I need a drink...", Xander hinted at his dry throat.

"Hayley's?", Kira suggested.

"Works for me", the Green Ranger rubbed his hands together in anticipation; "You coming?", he looked towards Tori.

Something flicked on a light bulb in Tori's head as the question sparked a memory with her; "I forgot my board!", she slapped a hand to her head in frustration; "I'll just shoot back and fetch it...i'm gonna catch the last of the waves before the tide changes".

"Well, are you gonna meet us there when you're done?"

"Sure, i'll catch you later", she climbed back into the van and started the engine.

"Okay, see you later", the two waved her off as they turned to walk in the direction of the Cyberspace.

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"Is it really good for you to stay away from Angel Grove?", Tommy frowned as he realized that Adam had left his Martial Arts business unattended.

"Relax, i've got a guy looking after the academy, it's cool".

"So won't you need clothes and all that stuff if you're staying here?", he questioned again.

"Sure, I already got that covered", Adam answered calmly.

"Oh...", the two began to walk back up the stairs and into the house, intending to leave Hayley in peace whilst she worked on the Zords. "So, you got a place to stay then?"

"Yeah, but I can't move in until tomorrow, so i'm staying with a friend".

"Alright, well i'm starving...", Tommy made his way towards the kitchen, he approached the lounge door; "You want an-...". His question remained unasked as he stared into the room where a dozen large suitcases lay on the floor. The former Black Ranger looked between the cases and Adam; who was trying to suppress a grin.

"What?", Adam said innocently; "I said I was staying with a friend".

"Yeah, but normally you _ask_ first".

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Tori finished securing her surfboard to the roof of her van as she prepared for the short drive back into Reefside. She quickly grabbed a pair of shorts and threw them onto the passenger seat as she got behind the wheel.

Gunning the engine, the van began to cruise down the streets, which were eerily quiet for this time of the day. Tori peered ahead suspiciously, starting to wonder about the lack of other vehicles.

With only half her mind focused on driving, Tori failed to notice the obstruction ahead...all of a sudden, she came back to her senses and slammed on the brakes; the tyres screeching to a halt, just short of the would-be victim.

The Blue Ranger stared uncomprehendingly for a moment at the figure in the road before it turned to face her, a smirk evident on it's face. Stark realization washed through her mind as she exited the van and glared at the monster before her. "Don't you creeps know when to give up?"

"Only when people like you get in the way of my Master's plans!", he growled lowly; "Now, prepare to bow down to the Oceanator!", the creature brought up his hands and thrust them towards Tori, propelling a tidal wave of water towards her.

The Blue Ranger groaned as she hit the floor, now dripping wet. She righted herself again before shaking her hands free of water; "I'll teach you to mess with a Power Ranger...", she glowered at the monster; "NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM, HA!".

"I'll show you who's got the _real_ power of water!", the Oceanator threatened before charging towards the Blue Ranger, a saber drawn in his hand.

"Bring it on! Ninja Sword, combat mode!", Tori countered the move with her own weapon as the two enemies headed straight towards each other.

The silent afternoon air in Reefside was suddenly filled with the sound of clashing metal as the two combatants met with full fury, their swords outstretched. As they pushed away from each other, the Oceanator tried a sneaky swipe towards the Blue Ranger's head, but she ducked under it with relative ease and responded by attempting to sweep the legs out from under the creature.

The monster side-stepped the move before launching on the offense once more and lashing out with huge amounts of brute strength all put into action behind his saber. He swung powerfully and Tori had to put both hands behind her own weapon just to keep him at bay

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"How's it coming Hayley?", Tommy called through the comms down into the Zord bay, where the scientist was now configuring the operation systems of the Zords.

"_We're ahead of schedule...they're almost done"_, she replied, an air of triumph in her voice. _"And Alpha's got the Shogun on it's way too"_.

"Great, i'll-..." a familiar loud beeping erupted around Tommy; "Oh man...", he glanced at the video feed on the screen in front of him; "Tori's in trouble, i'll call the others...but I get the feeling that we're gonna need those Zords", he hinted.

"_I'm working as fast as I can...they'll be ready"._

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Tori was swiftly jabbed in the stomach with the hilt of the Oceanator's sword as she briefly wondered where her teammates were. As she hit the floor, and given her current situation, she spoke into her morpher; "Guys, i've run into company, any chance of a little help?"

"_Look behind you..."_

The Blue Ranger regained her feet and looked over her shoulder to see the rest of the team running towards her. But she didn't have time to wait for them as the sound of rushing water grew louder...the Oceanator thrust forward his hand to release the torrent and Tori barely had chance to retaliate; "Ninja Water Blast!", she sent her own water attack surging forwards, but it couldn't hold back the attempt from the monster as, once again, the Blue Ranger was washed away, stopping just short of her newly-arrived friends.

"You okay?", Adam asked as he helped her back on her feet.

"What took you so long?", she joked as she accepted Adam's hand.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but...I don't remember being taught how to Ninja Streak like you...", Kira commented.

"Surprise!", the Oceanator seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere and he deftly struck all the Rangers in the stomach with a powerful fist, before standing back to admire his handiwork. "And you're supposed to be the _legendary_ Power Rangers...this is a _joke_!"

"You're not going to beat us!", Adam retorted.

"You're going down!", Xander threatened as the creature slowly made it's way back towards them, leering at them with malicious intent.

"Yeah, we've barely even started!", Tori added.

"Let's put that to the test then...and take it up a level!", the Oceanator let out a defiant roar before rapidly shooting upwards; growing at an alarming rate into it's giant size.

"Why do they _always_ have to do that?", Kira sighed.

Adam shared the notion as he tapped into his morpher; "Tommy? Hayley? Those Zords could sure come in handy".

"_Already?"_, Hayley replied from her position in the cockpit of the newly-regenerated Ptera Zord.

"Afraid so".

"_Give me...10 minutes and they're all yours...sorry guys, but I need the time..."_

"It's okay...", Adam turned to the Green Ranger; "He's all yours...", he gestured upwards; "For now", he added with a smirk.

"Thought you'd never ask...It's Titan Time!", Xander pulled out the Mystic Morpher and punched in the code; 1...2...5...

"_Galwit Mysto Prifior!"_

"Ancient Power, Mystic Minotaur!"

"Take your best shot!", the Oceanator growled towards the enlarged Xander.

The Minotaur took him up on the offer and ran at full speed towards the enemy, grabbing hold of whatever he could and slamming the creature to the floor. The ground shook visibly with the impact as the three helpless Rangers struggled to stay on their feet.

The ginormous Titan pinned the Oceanator down flat to the floor, but even with his strength, he could not resist the next move from the monster as it balled it's fists in front of itself...suddenly they exploded outwards, sending Xander flying high into the air before he crashed back down to Earth with a very large thud.

"Hang on Xander!", the Rangers encouraged him from the ground as they saw his current state.

The Minotaur was slowly getting beaten as the Oceanator unleashed another familiar water attack upon him as distraction before it assaulted him with a series of punches and kicks to the torso.

Adam, Tori and Kira watched on anxiously, but their attention was soon distracted by a sudden movement in the skies...

"What _is_ that?", Kira stared up as the clouds seemed to twist and turn, before they started spin into a giant vortex that almost resembled a tornado as it reached the ground. The odd clap of thunder and bolt of lightning shot across the sky and loud, distorted roars could also be heard as the Rangers prepared for the worst...

"I haven't got a good feeling about this...", Adam voiced his suspicions.

The clouds parted slightly and faded as a very large, black object slowly became visible... The Rangers' eyes widened as the clouds disappeared completely to reveal a very familiar friend...

"Welcome back...", was all Adam managed to say and he grinned uncontrollably behind his helmet.

"Alpha did it!", Tori gazed up at the Black Shogun Zord as it stood in all of it's former glory.

"It's been a long time", Adam admitted.

"_Guys?"_, Hayley's voice sounded through the morphers.

"Hayley! Please tell us it's good news...", Kira replied anxiously.

"_Take a look behind you and find out..."_

A loud screech accompanied by a large black shadow could only mean one thing; "Alright! You did it!", Kira stared up at her Pterodactyl like an old friend as it circled the skies.

"The Dolphin Zord's back too!", Tori exclaimed as the blue machine swam through the air to join its new teammates.

"Then let's take this guy down!", with a new vote of confidence the Rangers transported themselves into the cockpits of their respective animals.

The Zords maneuvered themselves towards the Oceanator as he stood over Xander; "Stop right there!", Adam shouted towards him as the Shogun Zord charged, flinging the monster aside like a toy, using its powerful arms.

The Pterodactyl was next in line as it swooped down upon the creature, slicing through it's armor using the razor-sharp tips of it's wings.

The Dolphin soon followed up with a barrage of laser fire that sent the Oceanator crashing back down to the ground. "Any last words?", Tori glared at the creature from the cockpit of the Zord.

"I-...", the monster was struggling to speak as it clutched at its battered body that was rapidly starting to combust.

"Xander, he's all yours..."

"It'll be my pleasure...", he uncovered the mighty axe that accompanied the Titan power. The Minotaur raised the weapon and two herculean strikes straight across it's chest made sure that the Oceanator would not get up again.

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"How awesome is that?!", Xander seemed just as excited at the return of the other Zords as they descended the stairs into the Dino Lab.

"I'm just a little worried about the lack of firepower...", Tommy explained; "I'll ask Hayley to see what she can do".

"It really does feel like old times now", commented Adam; "Except Tommy's not parading around in the Dragon Zord...", he glanced towards the Doctor for his reaction.

"Hey, I saved your asses more times than I can remember!", he retorted smugly.

"Whatever".

"Tommy?", Hayley called over to the group from her seat at the main computer.

"Yeah?"

"Have you been on this computer by any chance?", she asked calmly.

"Well...", he chose his answer carefully; "I was kinda bored when you were configuring the Zords so I had a...err...little...play around..."

The scientist swiveled in her chair to reveal a facial expression that did not bode well for the former Black Ranger; "A 'little play around'?", her voice remained calm, but there was fire in her eyes.

"Yeah", Tommy replied uneasily as the Rangers watched on in amusement.

"So how did you manage to change the monster alarm tone into the 'Stars and Stripes'?", she grilled him as she slowly stood from her chair.

"Err...well...I was...err...", he backed away slightly as she made her way towards him, picking up a spray bottle of coolant from a table as she went.

"I'll teach you to 'play' on my computer!".

Tommy quickly turned and bolted for the stairs, hotly pursued by Hayley .

"Get back here Oliver!"

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AN: Well, that's chapter 4 done and dusted, I hope you enjoyed it!

And just to let you know, I fly out to Egypt tomorrow for a weeks holiday and my laptop isn't coming with me, so the next update won't be posted until I get back.


	5. Family Ties

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_AN: So, the long (or not so long) awaited chapter 5 has landed...hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it!_

_Also, thanks to everyone that pointed out that i've been writing about the Mastodon instead of the Black Shogun Zord. I wrote the first couple of chapters using the Mastodon before I realized that it was completely destroyed in MMPR and I quite liked the idea of using Alpha to bring back the Shogun – hence, I forgot to change the Zord name. Anyway, chapter 4 has been edited to correct this mistake._

_On with the story..._

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"...And then there was this giant, magical tree that opened up..."

"I refuse to believe that your so-called base was _inside_ a tree...", Tori watched Xander with a highly disbelieving look on her face.

"Yeah, I might fall for some of your stories, but not that one, no way", Kira crossed her arms defiantly.

"Well...anything's possible in the Ranger world...", Adam opted to take the less controversial approach.

"Okay, you're freaking me out now – you're starting to sound like Dr. O".

"Point taken", he secretly hoped that he would _never_ sound like that as the Yellow Ranger made her way to the stage.

"We even had a _real_ Dragon!", Xander continued smugly.

"I think _I_ can top that one...", Tori countered unexpectedly; "Our Sensei was a talking-Kung-fu-Guinea Pig".

"But we had a _Dragon_!", Xander persisted.

"Guinea Pigs are better..."

Adam rolled his eyes at the bickering between the two whilst Kira was obviously ready for her performance as Hayley's voice was amplified through the on-stage microphone. "Introducing Reefside's new superstar – Kira Ford!"

Kira's cheeks reddened slightly at the reference to 'superstar'; the whole fame thing was taking some getting used to. Nevertheless, she readied her guitar and began the first song.

The rest of the Ranger team already stood at the front of the stage watching their friend perform – or at least one of them was, as Adam tried hard to ignore the ongoing argument between Tori and Xander.

"Dragon".

"Guinea Pig".

"Dragon".

"Guinea Pig".

"Dragon".

"Guinea Pig".

The quarreling continued for the duration of the entire performance as they prodded each other in the side with each retort.

Adam looked over to the Blue and Green Rangers as they made their way back to their seats and was glad to see that they were finally out of breath. "So...do you guys know what songs Kira just performed?", he tried to suppress his smirk.

"Err...", Xander feigned confidence; "Yeah, it was the...uhm...really good one..."

"Uh huh", the Black Ranger enjoyed the momentary silence as he still observed the two, like he would badly-behaved school kids. Adam turned back the face the right direction...just in time to collide with someone coming the other way.

"Oops...sorry", he held out a hand to steady the woman in front of him, before glancing at her face.

"Adam?", she looked at him gleefully.

"Uh oh"

"How are you sweetie?!", she pulled him into a crushing hug as he flailed his arms helplessly.

"Hi mom", he choked back; barely able to breathe. He regained his composure when she finally let him go; "What are you doing here?"

"My son tells me he's relocating and then a week later he moves away...so naturally, i'm curious as to what brought you here...", she thought for a moment; "Well...apart from the fact that you're a P-..."

"Shhh!", Adam hushed her furiously as he nervously looked around them for eavesdroppers; "Not _here_!"

Tori and Xander's initial interest levels had now doubled as the Green Ranger's mouth hung slightly open and the Ninja's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into her hairline altogether.

Adam kept on walking with his mother straight out of the Cyberspace and into the adjacent park, with Tori and Xander still in tow.

"Right, you can talk now", Adam gestured for his mom to resume the conversation.

She continued as if nothing had happened; "Anyway dear, I...", she eyed up Tori and Xander suspiciously before she continued.

Adam followed her gaze and knew what she was thinking; "It's okay mom, they know".

"I thought you weren't supposed to tell anyone?", she still kept an eye on the pair.

"Yeah, and that means everyone...including _you_", he argued.

"But i'm your mother dear, it's my _job_ to know what's going on".

"Whatever...", Adam let it drop before continuing; "These are my _teammates_ – Tori and Xander", he gestured towards each of them in turn.

"Hey, nice to meet you". Tori greeted.

"Hi Mrs P", Xander flashed her his best smile.

"Call me 'Rachel' dear", she smiled back; "'Mrs P' makes me sound old!" The three laughed at the comment as Rachel looked around searchingly. "I thought you said there were four of you?", she counted the odd number.

"Oh, Kira", Adam realized; "She's-"

"Here", a voice behind him finished his sentence.

"Hey Kira", he smiled at the Yellow Ranger who had appeared by his side; "Kira, i'd like you to meet my mom..."

Kira looked at the woman in pleasant surprise; "Hi", she waved slightly in friendly greeting.

Mrs Park recognised her face almost straight away; "Hello dear, I heard you singing...you have a marvelous voice".

The Yellow Ranger blushed slightly; "Thanks, i'm glad you like what I do".

"And a Power Ranger too...you're a girl of many talents".

Kira froze at the mention of this and looked back at her, quickly trying to feign all knowledge of it; "A Power Ranger? I don't think..."

Adam hastily interrupted; "Err Kira? She knows..."

"Oh", she replied meekly, whilst raising a questioning eye towards him; an expression that was mirrored by Tori and Xander.

"_Later_", he mouthed back at them all, not looking forward to explaining why he had leaked all of their identities without permission.

The other Rangers seemed content enough leave the issue until a better time and they completely changed the subject.

"So Mrs-...Rachel", Tori corrected herself; "Are you staying with Adam whilst you're here?"

"Of course", she replied, grinning; "I want to make sure he keeps that apartment of his clean and tidy".

Adam sighed inwardly as he reluctantly handed over his spare key "Don't mess with anything in there!", he warned, jokingly.

"I promise", she replied innocently; but then again - mothers are notoriously good liars.

The small talk was conveniently cut short by the sound of four individual alarm tones ringing out from the morphers of their respective owners.

Adam quickly checked the vicinity for any nearby civilians who could be listening in before raising his communicator to his mouth. "Go for Adam".

"_We've got a new monster...and it's not alone for once"_, Hayley's voice replied almost instantly.

"We're on our way", he dropped his wrist; "Sorry mom, but we've gotta go".

"I know", she said regretfully; "Be careful sweetie...", she hugged him tightly again as Adam's cheeks turned a light shade of crimson.

"Mom!", he pulled away hurriedly; "I'll be fine", he insisted, whilst ignoring the snickers coming from the rest of the team; "You'd better get inside".

"Don't worry, i'm going...besides, I can watch the fight on TV".

The Black Ranger rolled his eyes at her comment; "Just get going!".

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"Hey, stop!", the Rangers approached their targets at a run before halting a short distance away.

"We said 'Stop!'", Tori reiterated harshly.

The two figures finally turned around to face them, feigned looks of surprise on their faces. "Us?", a very human-looking creature stepped forwards slightly. Well, it would have looked human if it wasn't for the slit-like eyes with eerily-red pupils that glared at them and the unpleasant sight of what appeared to be a black, forked tongue which flickered out of it's mouth every few seconds. "I should've known that you Rangers would show up", he said with a look of utter disgust crossing his snake-like features.

"What do you want?!", Kira questioned impatiently.

The monster seemed to ignore her question as it continued it's speech; "Allow me to introduce myself...I am Ammix, Commander of my Lord Osirico's great army!", he also gestured to the robotic creature at his side; "I'd also like you to meet Raptir...", the mechanical, knight-like beast bowed obediently; "My most magnificent creation – he has the strength and ability to rival that of the greatest warriors, yet remains completely emotionless", the Rangers' wariness of the creature increased with every word as the Commander sneered at them. "Let's see how good you are...", Ammix shifted into a fighting stance; Raptir copying his move.

"Bring it on!", Adam retorted stubbornly. The Rangers charged towards Ammix in their attacking stances, morphing as they went and wordlessly splitting off into pairs.

Adam and Kira flew into action against Raptir, whilst Tori and Xander launched themselves at his master. The Green Ranger seemed to be in a rather 'hands-on' mood – quite literally as he pulled back his fist and slammed it straight into the hard metal armor of Ammix. Therefore, Tori wasn't surprised when Xander's hand recoiled rather rapidly, accompanied by a loud "Ouch!".

"Looks like you need to pack a harder punch!", the monster taunted.

With her friend still seething, the Blue Ranger called on an old favorite, as she tried to keep the momentum; "Ninja Shadow Battle!"

Xander didn't see much of what just happened, but he couldn't fail to notice that Tori had clearly emerged worst off as she crashed into the hard concrete with a loud 'thud!'. He glared back at Ammix, determined to repay him; "You want a harder punch, then you got it! Time for plan Xander!", he brought out his Mystic Morpher and quickly entered in a spell code; "Mystic Force Fighters!"

Meanwhile, both the Blade and Thundermax Blasters where unsheathed and in full use in combat against Raptir as Adam and Kira had quickly realised that in two-on-one sword combat, they were easily outclassed by the foe. However, in resorting to lasers, the chances of scoring a decent hit were vastly reduced due his impossibly thick armor.

Ammix sneered as he joined his servant, having been struck down by an admittedly lucky shot from the giant boxing gloves that adorned the Green Ranger's hands. "We'll leave you for now Rangers...", the two slowly backed away; "I'm sure that Tentacule here will give you something to think about in the meantime...", he snapped his fingers authoritatively and possibly one of the ugliest monsters the Rangers had ever seen appeared in a flash of jet-black lightning, right in front of Ammix.

The aptly-named Tentacule surged towards the Rangers, gross-looking tentacles swinging wildly from his body. They had no choice but to engage in the fight, yet they all saw Raptir disappear in another flash of lightning as Ammix continued to walk away...

"Oh no you don't!", Adam pushed himself away from the others and took off after the Commander. The Black Ranger leapt into the air, bringing the Power Axe swinging down to meet Ammix' back. The snake-like person hissed with pain as he turned to face his foe, hatred filling his eyes. "You're not going anywhere!", Adam swung the axe again before Ammix had time to react and struck him sharply across the chest.

Ammix regained his composure and unsheathed the sword at his side; "Don't be so foolish Black Ranger...you have no _idea_ what i'm capable of!"

"Well back atcha!", Adam retorted; not stopping to think of the meaning behind the words."Blade Blasters, fire!"

Meanwhile, the others were well on their way to disposing of Tentacule as they worked together to surround him. Xander; still bearing the ginormous pair of boxing gloves, struck out at the monster. A hard punch connected with his stomach to send him hurtling into the nearest wall, Tori and Kira quickly followed up with laser fire as he crashed to the ground.

"Let's end this!", the Blue Ranger unsheathed her Ninja Sword as Kira and Xander followed suit with the Thundermax Saber and the Magistaff.

"But...you don't understand!", the creature stuttered, his courage failing him; "I'm innocent!"

"You commit the crime, then you pay the price...", Kira reiterated the point as the Rangers charged, one by one taking a vicious swipe through the armor of Tentacule.

"I'll...get...you!", the monster choked as he was defeated for good; in a cloud of smoke and flames.

"Let's go!", Tori signaled for them to go help Adam now that their own enemy was disposed of. They arrived on the scene to find the evil army Commander on the back foot slightly as he battled the Black Ranger; Ammix growled and pushed away from the fight as they joined his side.

"Let's see what you're made of!", he held his blade in front of his face, where it glowed black and magically duplicated itself.

"Gladly!", Adam retorted, swinging his axe into an attacking position; "Mastodon!"

The rest of the team quickly followed suit as they continued the roll call...

"Power of water!"

"Strong as a tree, Green Mystic Ranger!"

"Ptera Power!"

The Rangers charged down Ammix with their favored weapons drawn in front of them. Tori sent a powerful water blast straight at him; temporarily disarming the snake warrior just as the now very familiar Power Axe came surging towards him. The next strike came swiftly after; courtesy of Xander as he summoned his Magistaff. Ammix staggered backwards, barely able to stay on his feet, just as a quick follow up arrived in the form of the Ptera Grips as they repeatedly slashed through the creature's hard, metallic armor.

The Rangers stood in unison before the severely weakened Ammix as his body seemed to self-combust under the armor; "Any last words?", Adam asked sarcastically, with a hint of joy as that they were about to destroy the Commander of Osirico's army. The monster seemed uncapable of speaking as he stared at the team, with what could be mistaken for a smirk plastered on his face. "Thought not..." the Rangers drew their blasters; "FIRE!"

"This will not...be...our last meeting!", Ammix stammered as he crashed to the ground, his body erupting into flames.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"So who wants to go for pizza?", Xander looked around the gang hopefully as they finally returned to the Cyberspace.

"I'm in", Tori quickly piped up as her empty stomach growled in frustration.

"Yep, me too", Kira agreed; "I'm _starved_!"

Adam looked at the trio regretfully as their eyes turned to him; "Sorry...I promised mom i'd cook dinner...".

"You? Cook?", Kira looked at him in disbelief as Tori and Xander failed to hold in their sniggers; all of them having experienced the Black Ranger's culinary skills before.

"Not funny!", he protested as he walked away, beginning to wonder if inviting his mom to Reefside was really a good idea.

"Have fun!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"_By the power of the demons...arise!"_

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_


	6. Against Them All: Pt 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

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"We need to keep moving My Lord...", a creature remarked from the shadowy depths of Osirico's lair; "...We must attack".

"What do you have in mind?", Osirico patiently awaited an answer.

"Those Power Rangers have the support of the world behind them...", the creature continued.

"Your point being?", came the growled response.

"We take away the support...it will certainly damage their confidence, they won't feel obliged to fight anymore", he sneered.

"Well then...", Osirico stood from his favored seat; "What are you waiting for?"

"My Lord, I think it would be better if I did not reveal myself yet...", Osirico's eyes turned to fire as he glared down at his sub-ordinate's suggestion; "I mean, I need to wait until the right time", the creature added hastily.

"And when will that be?", the evil master questioned.

"Soon My Lord, I have a plan in mind".

"Very well...", Osirico snarled; "But you will pay the price if this goes wrong", he warned.

"Thankyou My Lord", the creature bowed deeply; "I shall send a warrior down at once".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Get off me you freak!", Kira growled as he wrestled to break free from the monkey-like arms of the evil empire's latest creation.

"Allow me", Adam rushed to his friend's rescue and leapt into the air, before withdrawing the Power Axe and slamming it into the ground.

The earth beneath the creature's feet shook violently, causing him to divert his concentration onto keeping his balance, which gave Kira the opportunity to ram her left elbow straight into his stomach.

The monster roared and staggered ever closer to falling over as the Rangers regrouped. However, unfortunately for them, the dim-witted creation had launched its initial attack in the center of the thriving shopping mall. Fixing its cold stare on the heroes, the monster knew that it needed to gain an advantage unless it wanted to be shown the fast-track to hell...

The long arms snapped outwards again, only this time they grabbed onto one of the few remaining civilians...a little boy, no more than six years old.

The evil creature held the now screaming child close to his body as the boy's mother ran towards him in horror; "Charlie!"

"No!", Tori put out her arms to stop the hysterical woman before she got herself hurt.

"But that's my son!", she argued as she tried to pull away from the Blue Ranger.

"No..." Tori repeated again; "Don't worry, we'll get him back for you, okay?"

The woman could do nothing but nod and whimper in response as she ceased her plight to get away.

"That's a new low buddy!", Xander accused the offending creature; "Even for the likes of you!", he pointed his Magistaff menacingly towards him.

"He's coming with us...", Kira continued, drawing out the Ptera Grips; "...Whether you like it or not".

The Rangers needed no other incentive as the charged towards the monster, bearing in mind that their priority was the terrified child.

Since the Power Axe was too clumsy to risk hurting the child, Adam took careful aim with his blasters, firing as he ran.

The lasers did their job and smacked into the creature's shoulder, instinctively causing him to drop the boy. The child fell to the ground, unharmed, when Tori followed up Adam's plan by rolling under a swipe from the monster's arms and scooping up the child as she stood again.

Narrowly avoiding a stray stream of laser fire as the other Rangers pounced on the creature, the Blue Ranger safely handed the boy back to his mother.

"Oh thankyou!", the woman hugged her son tightly; "Thankyou so much!"

"My pleasure", Tori turned to the boy; "You okay little buddy?" the still in-shock kid nodded vigorously from his mother's side before giving her a small smile. "Great, well how about you take your mom home, away from this monster?".

He broke into another smile before grabbing onto his mom's hand; "Come on Mommy, the Power Ranger told us to go!"

The woman couldn't help but grin at him; "Okay then, let's get home and see your dad".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Ahhh!", Adam hurtled through the air...

CRASH!

...And smashed straight through a store window. "Oomph!", several clothing rails toppled over as the Black Ranger found the floor and the monster watched with glee.

"Who'd have thought this would be so much fun?!"

"Well, I think it's about time we crashed your party!", Xander threatened as he whipped out his Mystic Morpher...

Vines seemed to spring out of nowhere as the Green Ranger's elemental powers took force. The long, green spindles wrapped themselves tightly around the unsuspecting villain as Adam picked himself up from amongst the clothes and shards of broken glass.

The tried and tested tactic worked perfectly as the three other Rangers wasted no time in finishing the creature off with a trio of laser fire.

"Another successful outing for the Retro Rangers!", Kira concluded as she hi-fived everyone jokingly.

"Yeah, but where's the supersize monster?", Tori furrowed her brow in confusion over the unusual lack of Megazord-vital action.

"Uhm..."

"Looks like they ran out of spells to make it grow", Adam mocked, unaware of the villainous plan at work.

"Shame...", Xander feigned disappointment; "I was looking forward to kicking his butt".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Guys? Are you there?", Hayley voiced her message to the Rangers' communicators from her chair in the Dino lab.

"Yeah, I read you Hayley", Adam's groggy voiced replied.

"What's up?", questioned Xander a little more enthusiastically.

"Mmmm?" was all Kira could manage. But that said, it was significantly better than Tori's reply...

"...."

"You are not going to believe this..." Hayley continued.

"This had better be worth getting up for", Adam interrupted jokingly.

"Yeah, this is _way_ too early", Kira agreed.

"Whatever dudes, us tough Rangers can handle it..." Xander chipped in; "...Right Tor?", he awaited the Blue Ranger to back him up; "Tor?"

"...."

Xander frowned. "I think she's asleep man", Adam suggested.

"I don't blame her either", Kira added.

"I'll soon change that...", the Green Ranger cleared his throat; "...HEY TORI!", he all but yelled down his communicator.

"Huh?", a very sleepy and confused voice answered.

"There you go!", Xander announced proudly; much to the disapproval of the others.

"Tori do you read me?", Hayley asked.

"Yeah...yeah I hear you".

"Good, back to business then...", the tech whiz continued; "...As I was saying, I don't suppose any of you have read this morning's newspaper?"

"No...", they all answered slowly in unison.

"Hayley's voice sounded slightly concerned; "Well, I think you'd better take a look".

Adam strolled towards his front door in confusion and stepped outside to pick up the daily newspaper that had been carelessly dumped there. Unfolding the crease down the middle, he stopped and stared at the front page; "Oh dear".

_TO BE CONTINUED..._

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**ALL REVIEWS MUCH APPRECIATED, THANKYOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONE SO FAR :)**


	7. Against Them All: Pt 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

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Tori padded down the stairs as she stifled a yawn and wrenched the paper out of the mailbox. The first thing to catch her eye was the large picture that was emblazoned on the front page; of a scene she remembered all too well...

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Kira casually walked into the kitchen and sat down opposite her father at the breakfast table; "Morning dad".

"Morning sweetie", the man in question replied after quickly swallowing a mouthful of toast. Brushing away a few crumbs, he raised his morning paper in front of his face once more and began to read.

Kira feigned interest as she read the headline..."Uhm", she quickly forged an excuse for her parents; "I'm going upstairs for a shower".

"Okay", it was her mother who replied this time as she washed the previous nights dishes.

The Yellow Ranger flew back up the stairs and into the bathroom where she hastily set the shower running and locked the door. Satisfied that she couldn't be heard, Kira sat on the edge of the bathtub and tapped into her morpher; "Okay, are you guys reading the same stupid story as me?"

"Oh yeah".

"This is a _joke_".

"'_Endangered bird rescued by local fireman_'...I don't und-...ah...", the TV on the other side of the room answered Xander's confusion as the newsreader gave out the story.

"...And yesterday, we received disturbing news from the Reefside Mall where one of the _Power Rangers_ attempted to kidnap a six year old child...our reporter from the scene managed to get these photos". The newsreader turned towards a large screen where, on cue, the same pictures that adorned the papers flashed up onscreen.

"I don't _believe_ this", Tori still stared at the image of herself on the newspaper, where she was mid-run and carrying the young boy to safety. "If that reporter was there, then it should've been pretty obvious that I _saved_ him", the Blue Ranger stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, you know what journalists are like", Adam sighed; "They'll make a story out of anything if it means that they get money in their pockets".

"It'll blow over", Tori convinced herself; "Since when were the Power Rangers the enemy anyway?"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Now then...", Rachel Park stood on the street outside her son's apartment block, fully laden with various bags; "...Keep out of trouble, okay?"

"You know I can't keep that promise mom", Adam reminded her as she kissed him goodbye.

"I'm only _saying_...if anymore of those reporters give you hassle then show them what you're made of..."

"Mom, I can't attack the reporters!" he almost laughed at her comment; "That'll just make them hate us even more".

"Well, all the same, make sure you call me", Rachel picked up her bags and threw them into the back of the newly-arrived taxi.

Adam sighed and rolled his eyes; "Don't worry, i'll call", he shut the door once his mother was inside.

"Bye!", she mouthed through the glass as the cab pulled off down the street. Adam waved in response...just as his communicator sounded.

"I read you Hayley, what's up?"

"_We've got a new friend, down at the plaza"._

"No problem, i'm on my way", stepping out of sight down the side of the building, it was safe to morph; "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Being a warm and sunny spring afternoon, no-one was remotely surprised that the many outdoor cafés that lined the plaza were full to bursting as people lounged in the sunshine.

All four Rangers arrived on the scene within a minute of each other and were extremely surprised to see their target sat casually on a bench; so casually in fact that no-one had even noticed he was there, or at least they presumed it was a costume.

"Perfect", was all it sneered and before the Ranger even had time to speak, a hoard of Hornets appeared in front of them.

"They just don't get it do they?", Adam balled his fists at his sides as the quartet swung into action. The monster let out a huge, yet unnecessary roar that made their ongoing battle well-known to the nearby civilians.

The large group of Hornets were edging closer and closer to the innocent bystanders as one of the footsoldiers hurled a plastic chair in Xander's general direction. The Green Ranger had to react fast as he swiftly kicked the chair away to avoid it hitting the flustered looking man behind him; "You'd better get to safety", he gestured, putting a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Yeah, away from you!", the civilian brushed Xander's hand off sharply and continued on his way.

His strange behavior puzzled the Green Ranger until he thought back to the news headline, briefly wondering if the normally kind citizens of Reefside really were turning against them.

As a hornet came face-to-face with the wrong end of the Power Axe, Adam could hear the unmistakable taunts and jibes coming from the crowds around them.

"They really are against us aren't they?", Kira's question was more of a statement, but it voiced Adam's thoughts exactly.

The Black Ranger nodded as he fought away more Hornets and watched a couple get slashed by the deadly Ptera Grips. "We _protect_ the world though, they should support us, not fight us".

Tori stormed vigorously through the remaining footsoldiers, the Ninja Sword in its element as it sliced through the air towards its prey.

"...I will strengthen the signal Sir, those Rangers won't last for long with no-one on their side". Tori looked towards the monster as Ammix stood by his side and disappeared within seconds, but that sentence was all she needed to hear...

"It's not looking good", the rest of the team joined the Blue Ranger as the last of the Hornets vanished and Xander indicated to the crowd of unhappy people as they charged the Rangers down, before walking towards them menacingly.

The Rangers backed up as the angry civilians surrounded them, some even attempting to fight them as a torrent of abuse came their way.

"We've got to get away from here", Kira's muffled voice sounded out.

"Well we can't exactly blast our way out can we?", Xander replied cockily as he finally pulled out his morpher inbetween all the pushing and shoving coming his way; _1...2...9...Galwit Mysto Aerotan!_

"Raptor Cycle!"

"Tsunami Cycle!"

"Shark Cycle!"

Managing to break free from the tangle of angry civilians trying to grab a hold of them, the Rangers each performed a hurried leap high into the air in the direction of the waiting rides to safety.

Hastily gunning the engines, each bike – or in Xander's case, the Racer, sped off until both them and their riders were safely out of sight.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"They hate us Dr. O".

"She's right Tommy", Adam agreed.

"So you really think that the _entire_ town turned their backs on you overnight?", the Doctor questioned disbelievingly.

"Yeah".

"Yep".

"Yes".

"No..."

Tommy looked gratefully towards the only member of the team that appeared to be using their brain; "Thankyou Tori...", he rubbed his forehead thankfully; "...I was going to ask if anyone had considered that there may be more than willpower at work here?"

Adam frowned as the stark realization of the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.

"But it makes sense though...", Xander failed to see the point; "If we're running around with people's kids at the scene of a battle – people are _going_ to be suspicious".

"Yeah, but it's happened loads of times before; why would they make a big deal of it now?", Adam pointed out.

"That's what I was about to tell you guys", Tori began; "I saw that monster stood talking with Ammix about 'strengthening the signal' and they sure as hell didn't seem surprised about all of this".

"Like I said, they're up to something, and we need to find out what".

"And that's the easy part", Hayley interrupted casually, causing everyone else in the room to turn and raise their eyebrows at her as if to suggest that she couldn't possibly know what was going on here. "Well think about it", she continued; "The first report of this to be shown on the TV was at 6pm yesterday, but it wasn't printed in the newspapers until _6am_ _today"._

"And?", Xander questioned, wondering where this was going.

"They had plenty of time to get the story into the evening paper, so why didn't they? Unless it wasn't their story to start with..."

"You mean they copied the TV report?"

"Bingo", a quick press of the keyboard and the computer brought up two photos – one from the paper and one from the TV report. "Exactly the same", Hayley explained.

"Ah...okay, but what's this to do with our monster?", Adam asked.

"It's only manipulating one source – the TV", Tommy concluded as his mind fitted the pieces into place.

"Exactly", Hayley grinned; "And they can't have physically taken over the press office or anything because we'd have heard about it by now".

"And?", Xander asked again.

"What do all TV shows get transmitted through?"

"The signal tower?"

"The signal tower".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Right then, we need to get to that tower", Adam took the lead as he made his way to the room that housed the Rangers' arsenal.

"That's really not a good idea", Tommy interjected.

"Why not?"

"You really think the bikes will make it up there?"

Adam's eyes flicked to the onscreen image of their target, which stood proudly atop a small mountain of exceedingly rocky terrain. The Black Ranger frowned before turning back; "Okay, so Xander can take the Racer up there", he amended.

"Uh huh, I don't think Osirico could fail to miss a bright green flying machine traveling _that_ high above the ground – he'll be shot down within five minutes.

"Okay...so what do you suggest?", Adam sighed defeatedly.

"I say that-..."

"Hate to interrupt the master plan, but we've got a freak on the loose", Hayley butted in once more as she watched the surveillance cameras.

"Right then – straight to Plan B", the doctor amended.

"Woah, woah, woah, what was Plan A?", Adam eyed him up.

"To walk", Tommy shrugged nonchalantly; "But under the circumstances...Kira?"

"Yeah?"

"I got someone to see ya...", the vehicle bay door hissed open at his command to reveal a familiar ally.

"Alright!", Kira grinned wildly.

"Err, Tommy?..What is that?", Adam eyed the rather menacing-looking Velociraptor warily.

"This is a Raptor Rider – kinda like a prehistoric version of the Raptor Cycle, it might not be as fast; but it doesn't have a problem with rough terrain".

"That's actually pretty cool", Xander remarked as he reached out his hand...

The Raptor snapped playfully at his outstretched fingers with razor-sharp teeth and the Green Ranger's hand quickly recoiled.

"Yeah, you'd better leave the handling to its owner", Tommy laughed.

"I'll keep in touch...call if you need me", Kira stood ready beside the feisty dinosaur. "DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

The three remaining Rangers watched as Kira jumped onto the Raptor's back and it sprinted off through the back portal and into the forest.

"And that leaves us to trash this guy...IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Upon closer inspection at the battle scene, the creature that the Rangers were fighting was unmistakeably the same one from the plaza.

"Hey, knucklehead!"

The snarling beast stopped its terrorizing tactics long enough to whirl at the sound of the Blue Ranger's voice.

"You come back for more?", Adam added.

"As a matter of fact I have, and it involves you!" Thrusting its over-sized fists forwards into an awkward pose, it thundered towards the Rangers with surprising speed and batted each of them aside like flecks of dust. Striding purposefully back towards them, the creature slammed its foot straight down into the chest of his nearest victim – Xander.

The 'strong as a tree' Mystic Ranger was powerless to resist as he thudded back the short way into the hard ground.

Scrambling to his rescue, Adam and Tori picked themselves up and attempted to throw the monster away from Xander, only to be met by the rock hard fists once again as Xander still tried in vain to free himself.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Meanwhile, having negotiated the forest, Kira now found herself in the extremely dense woodland that covered the hillside; not to mention the rocky terrain the they had been warned about.

The closeness of her surroundings unnerved the Yellow Ranger slightly; along with the sounds of snapping twigs and rustling leaves and the occasional snarl from the Raptor, Kira got the unsettling feeling that she was being watched...

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Xander panted heavily as the creature retained the pressure on his chest whilst also fighting off Adam and Tori. The Green Ranger wriggled to reach his belt and once within good distance, he snapped up his Magistaff.

The monster let out a howl of pain as the weapon made contact with his leg and Xander leapt up, gasping for air. With the enemy momentarily distracted, the Black and Blue Rangers deftly performed identical roundhouse kicks into its back, sending it staggering.

However, their joy was short lived as a single powerful swipe from the boulder-like fists made sure that the Rangers found their way back to hard concrete.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Woah...easy", Kira held onto the reins as the Raptor growled and jumped slightly. Glancing around, the Yellow Ranger cursed the strong winds as the trees swayed as if to taunt her. Another crunching of a twig made the Raptor increasingly nervous as it screeched loudly.

"Hey buddy, keep it calm okay?" Kira kept her eyes fixed on the surrounding woodland, now in no doubt that she wasn't alone...She tapped her morpher discreetly; "Hayley?"

"How's it going Kira?"

"I'm not far away from the tower, but I think Osirico knows i'm here".

"Hang on, i'm running a thermal scan on your coordinates" Kira heard the sound of fingers on the keyboard and the beep of the computer; "Oh..."

"What can you see?"

"You're surrounded", Hayley replied bluntly.

"Ah, thought so", the Yellow Ranger silently drew her blaster at the ready. _"So much for discretion"_, she thought wistfully.

"You alright to take care of this?"

"Not a problem...i'll be back as soon as I can".

"Alright, you be careful"

As Hayley signed out, Kira's focus returned to her surroundings; "Come on, where are you?", she muttered to herself, training the blaster on nothing in particular...and no more than five seconds later her question was answered as about forty flaming Hornets burst through the trees. The Raptor growled menacingly, snapping its jaws towards them as Kira smirked slightly; "FIRE!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"All we need is some more firepower and this guy'll be history!" Adam slammed his fist into the ground in frustration, the Rangers still failing to cause significant injury to the monster with Xander's elemental attack proving as futile as the great powers of the two Ninjas. New tactics and varying weapons coming to unhelpful conclusions as the creature roared defiantly before snapping Tori and Xander from the ground like irritating flies and flinging them both in the direction of the unfortunate Adam, resulting in a Ranger-shaped pile up.

"Too easy!", the monster leered, striding purposefully towards them...

"Uh Tommy?", Adam called somewhat nervously; "Any ideas?"

"Funny you should ask...me and Hayley got kinda bored last weekend, so we grabbed Alpha and had a play around with your weapons..."

"Great! But you're gonna have to quit the smalltalk, we're kinda in trouble here".

"Well, you see the only problem is that for full power, you'll need Kira".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Back on the hillside, only ten or so Hornets remained standing after some nifty work courtesy of a Thundermax Blaster and an enraged dinosaur. Quickly converting the Blaster into a saber, Kira struck down the stragglers before turning the Raptor in the direction of the signal tower and racing towards it at top speed.

"Hayley, are you there?"

"I read you Kira, are you okay?"

"Yeah, the bad guys are sorted, but i'm at the tower and I haven't got a clue what i'm looking for..."

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"What? She's miles away..." Adam groaned.

"Did someone call?", a familiar voice with a victorious edge to it sounded towards the group, accompanied by the missing Ranger.

"Couldn't have timed it better myself!", Tommy laughed through the communicator.

"I'm still here!", the monster snarled confidently at the Rangers, who were now back on their feet.

"Well we can easily change that", Adam retorted as they maintained safe distance; "What's this master plan of yours Tommy?"

"Adam – take Xander's axe and Tori – take the Ptera Grips...i'm sure you'll figure out what to do".

The Black and Blue Rangers held the designated weapons beside their own in front of them until they noticed the ever so slight modifications to each of them.

With Kira and Xander having already taken the liberty of battling the impatient monster, Adam slowly drew close the two axes and suddenly they fused together in a flash of light and enlarged themselves slightly to form one huge, double-headed axe. Likewise, the Ptera Grips molded themselves into the blade of the unsheathed Ninja Sword to create what could have resembled a vicious-looking trident.

"Now that's cool!"

"Double the power, double the fun", came Tommy's voice through the morpher once more.

"I bet", Tori swept the new weapon expertly through the air.

As Kira and Xander slowly backed up to join their teammates, Adam addressed the group; "This guy needs to be hit as hard as we've got, or he's not going down".

"'As hard as we've got' huh?", the Green Ranger released his morpher and punched in a spell code.

"_Galwit Neramax!"_

In an instant, Xander looked like he had spent a lifetime in the gym, eating health foods; "Mystic Muscle!"

"Bring it on!", the monster snarled.

The Rangers charged, their tactics in place as Kira leapt towards the monster as a distraction, firing her blaster and vaulting high over his head and out of reach to leave the way clear for Xander to follow up with a monster of a punch straight in the creature's face making it howl loudly as it thudded to the ground.

"Shall we?" Adam inclined his head suggestively and the remaining pair surged forwards, their new weapons finding their target with deadly accuracy. Flaming red slashed appeared on the monster's body as it roared in anguish before its strength failed and it finally exploded in a shower of sparks.

"I'll put twenty dollars on what's gonna happen next", Tori sighed as she returned the Ptera Grips to their rightful owner.

"Likewise", Xander muttered, just as the familiar eerie voice filled the skies.

"_By the power of the demons, arise!"_

A giant tornado whirled around the charred remains of the monster before dying away to reveal a giant in their place. Without another word to each other, the Rangers called on their respective Zords and launched themselves into the cockpits.

"Adam, you and Kira should be able to combine if i've worked this right", Hayley's voice filtered through the comms systems.

"No problem!"

"How about a double-team Xander?" Tori proposed as the Dolphin Zord bobbed around next to the Minotaur.

"It would be my pleasure", he replied as he drew his axe.

"Here goes!", Tori shot the Zord forwards and took the enraged monster by surprise by swiping it across the legs with its tail for a successful debalancing act. The Dolphin then proceeded to toss the creature up and down on the end of its nose repeatedly; "Take your shot Xander!"

The enlarged Green Ranger stomped up and waited for the opportune moment before slamming the axe straight into the monster, sending it hurtling through the air, severely weakened.

"How about that combo?", Adam looked to the Zord that hovered beside him.

"You got it", and using the mental command system, the Ptera Zord split into two; the head and shoulders twisting around the Shogun's head to form a solid helmet as it would've in the Dino Thunder days. The wings however, remained in the form of the Ptera Rang and were now gripped in the other Zord's hand.

The new 'mini Megazord' as they had christened it; stood before the monster; "Time to say goodbye!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Why didn't we get a cool combo?", Xander huffed jokingly as he gave the puppy-dog eyes to Tommy.

"_Because_, the whole thing's only half finished, Hayley and Alpha had to do a few makeshift configurations _just_ to get the Shogun and Ptera Zord to combine".

"Oh okay, maybe we'll let you off this time...right Tor?"

"I'll just agree so I don't have to argue with you", Tori muttered as she studied the evening news report, blaring from one of the many screens in the Dino Lab; "Well at least we're back to normal with the media", she gestured to the screen, which now showed a much more positive headline.

"_Technicolor heroes triumph again!"_

"Technicolor?", Xander frowned slightly as if pondering the word; "How about 'brilliant' or 'fantastic'?"

The team rolled their eyes as was normal during these 'Xander moments' and proceeded as if he hadn't said anything. "So anyway, what's everyone up to tomorrow? I thought maybe we could go see a movie or something", Adam asked casually.

"Sorry mate, I got myself a job interview down at some new music store in the mall, figured i've got the experience to land it", Xander replied.

"Yeah sorry Adam, I seriously need to get some practice in for the surf competition, it's only a few weeks away", Tori sighed.

"And i've got a hell of a long recording session tomorrow for the next album", Kira frowned; "And I'm _not_ looking forward to it".

Adam sighed defeatedly; "Alpha? How'd you like to come to the movies with me?"

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Well the good news is that the next chapter is already written and ready to go after it's had a proof-read so it'll be up within a couple of days. So thanks for the kind comments and i'll see ya later! :)


	8. The Big Break

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_AN: Here's the next chapter for you and we see the return of some old characters..._

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"This job would really mean a lot to me Mr Lertree".

"I'm sure it would Miss Cornell, so if you're really serious about this, then i'm willing to give you a chance..."

"Of course I am".

"But still, I appreciate that you're young and might not have the experience of most reporters, so, if you can get me a story good enough to be put on air on this channel by the end of the week, then the job's yours".

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"I got it Devin!", Cassidy shouted excitedly as she jumped up and down in front of her friend.

"That's great Cass!"

"All I have to do is find a decent story and the job's mine!"

"Well...the Power Rangers are back...and they're here in Reefside".

"Of course! Everyone wants to hear about the Power Rangers!", she grabbed hold of Devin's arm; "Let's go!"

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"That was one _monster_ day...", Kira crashed out on one of the couches at the Cyberspace after returning from a long recording session. She was immediately followed by the rest of the team who had all also finished work.

No sooner had they sat down did each of their communicators ring out with their unique tones. "Speaking of monsters...", Adam looked at the others pointedly before they all rushed out of the door. "Where's the problem guys?", Adam spoke into his communicator once they were out of sight.

"_Shouldn't take you too long to find him, he's -..."_, Tommy's voice replied, but he was cut off by a loud scream. The Rangers' heads all shot up at the noise as they looked for it's source. It didn't take too long before they saw large numbers of civilians running away from the next street.

"I think we got him..."

"_Okay, good luck guys"._

The four Rangers charged around the next corner to come face to face with their monster, who was enjoying terrorizing everyone in sight.

"Feel the fear of Pralor!"

"Hey!"

"Stop!"

"Well look who it is!", the monster appeared unphased by the appearance of the Rangers; "I've been looking forward to this...", he sneered evilly; "Hornets, attack!"

A dozen footsoldiers appeared and the Rangers shifted into a battle stance before running to meet them.

Having grown used to the predictable movements of the Hornets, the Rangers confidently struck out at them with no sympathy and they were easily defeated.

Pralor looked unimpressed; "Perhaps you like larger numbers!", he challenged and at his command, no less than 20 Hornets surrounded each Ranger, waiting to attack.

"I'm getting too old for this", Tori commented on the fresh wave of opponents.

"Likewise", Xander agreed.

"I hear that...", Adam didn't seem to be in a patient mood; "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM, HA!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

All at once, two swords and two axes came crashing down to meet their targets as the Rangers began to fight their way through the Hornets.

Adam swung the Power Axe at the nearest few creatures, bringing it straight across their mid-sections. He drove a sharp kick backwards into two trying to ambush him from behind and rapidly turned with the axe in hand to finish a couple more. The Black Ranger then leapt high into the air; "Blade Blaster, fire!", the lasers got the job done.

The Hornets facing Kira had all drawn their daggers and simultaneously prepared to bring them down. However, the Yellow Ranger raised the Thundermax Saber above her head and crouched low to the ground. 20 sharpened blades rested on Kira's and without warning, she thrust herself upwards, sending the footsoldiers flying in all directions. Kira stood over the grounded Hornets and, like Adam, drew her blaster and the creatures were quickly destroyed.

"Magistaff!", the Green Ranger thrust the weapon towards the group of Hornets and thick vines shot out of the end, wrapping themselves tightly around the footsoldiers. Xander quickly followed up and swiped at the now defenseless creatures, sending sparks flying from their armor. "Axe Mode!", the Magistaff transformed and he swung it over his head before slamming it straight into the ground where a streak of energy spread from where it hit and surged straight through the Hornets. The evil creatures were overpowered by the force and they fell to the floor, defeated.

Tori removed the Ninja Sword from her back sheath in one fluid movement; "Ninja Shadow Battle!", she surged forward towards the now visually impaired Hornets as they desperately scrabbled around. The Blue Ranger struck out at the creatures, who were completely overwhelmed by the attacks and they crashed to the ground, exploding into a cloud of flames.

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"Devin! There they are...", Cassidy pointed at the Rangers from behind the large crate where she was hiding as Devin scrambled around for his video camera and set the tape rolling.

As the Rangers fought, the one in yellow drew closer, just finishing off the Hornets and Cassidy recognized the familiar suit. "Wait a minute...isn't that Kira?", Devin looked up towards the battle scene and sure enough, there stood the Yellow Dino Ranger.

"Yeah...it is...", he looked confused; "But where are the others?", he asked, referring to Conner, Ethan, Dr. O and Trent.

"I don't know...", a sudden smile crept over Cassidy's face; "But I think i've got my story..."

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The four Rangers stood facing Pralor having defeated the large group of Hornets. "Is that the best you can do?", Xander taunted.

"Yeah, how about a _real_ challenge?", Tori added.

"You asked for it!", the enraged monster charged towards the Rangers, a curved Saber held tightly in his hand where they met him head on with their own unique blades and to the sound of clashing metal.

Adam twisted himself away from the fray momentarily, while the others kept Pralor busy and darted behind the creature before landing a good kick in his back, knocking him off balance and gifting the other Rangers a free hit on it's armor. Kira quickly drew her blaster and aimed it at his head, but it was knocked out of the way as Pralor pulled up his saber and slashed her across the chest. However, that favor was returned courtesy of the Black Ranger and a deadly swipe from the Power Axe.

The monster growled as Tori followed up Adam's attack almost straightaway with a well-timed strike across its chest plate, leaving the door open for Xander to do the same. Pralor continued to stagger backwards away from the Rangers as he clutched his chest; "You _will_ see me again, and next time – you won't be so lucky!", he threatened before quickly disappearing in a flash of jet-black lightning.

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Upon returning to the Cyberspace, the team once again crashed out on the couch and Adam casually switched on the TV. The picture blared onscreen as he reached for the remote.

"Wait a minute", Kira prevented him changing the channel as she stared at the familiar face onscreen.

"_And now may we introduce a new member to our team here at Reefside Central News – Miss Cassidy Cornell"._

"How the hell did she get _that_ job?", Kira wondered out loud.

"_Thanks John, can I just say that it's an honor to be joining Reefside's biggest News network"._

"_Well, we all think that you'll do great and I hear that you've brought us an exclusive"._

Cassidy couldn't help but grin;_ "That's right, I have the first confirmation on the identity of the Yellow Power Ranger"._

"_Well, tune in tomorrow for Cassidy's new slot where all will be revealed on that story. That's it from me today but i'll back again at the same time tomorrow-..."_

Adam promptly shut the TV off and Kira felt three pairs of eyes bearing down on her as she sat in stunned disbelief.

"So...", Xander began.

"I've gotta find her", Kira stated, interrupting the Green Ranger before rising from her seat and leaving the building. The Rangers stared after her before a familiar voice appeared behind them.

"Are you guys alright?" They all turned to face Hayley as she leaned casually against the back of the couch, a couple of empty glasses in her hand.

"Yeah, I guess so", Adam answered for them.

"Where's Kira?"

"We just saw the news on TV and this new reporter – Cassidy Cornell, I think it said...", Hayley perked up at the name; "...Claims to know who the Yellow Ranger is", Adam started.

"And she's gonna announce it tomorrow", Xander added.

"So Kira ran off to find her", Tori finished.

"I mean, how can _anybody_ know who we are, we always make sure _no-one_ can see us morph and everything", Xander commented in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, she probably just saw somebody who was near a fight or something when we disappeared".

"Hold it guys", Hayley held her free hand up; "Don't waste your breath because Cassidy Cornell _already_ knows who Kira really is..."

"I don't think so, nobody has seen us morph and we've definitely not told anyone – well, except my mom", Adam argued.

"You've not heard the full story yet", Hayley explained; "Kira and the other Dino Rangers went to high school with Cassidy, and at the final battle with Mesogog, she was there – she saw _everything_".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

A loud knock rattled the large wooden door to the unused office that Daniel had kindly given Cassidy in which she could compile her news story; not even looking up from her work as she answered. "Devin! If you're here again about the stupid kid who got stuck in a tree, then i'm gonna-..."

"Hey Cassidy".

The budding reporter finally peered towards the doorway with a mixture of shock and worry as her eyes came to rest on her old classmate. "Hi...Kira".

"I guess I don't need to tell you why i'm here?", Kira answered calmly as she surveyed the girl who was threatening to expose her secret.

"Oh come on...lighten up!", Cassidy grinned; "Why does it matter so much if people find out that you're out there running around in spandex half the time?"

"Hey, keep it down!", Kira replied in a hushed voice; "How about we take a walk?" she motioned to the door and Cassidy reluctantly followed.

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"You wanted to know why I want it kept secret?", Kira finally sat herself down on a park bench; "Take a look around...", she gestured with her hands.

"At what?" Cassidy's brow furrowed in confusion.

"People...lots of people", she glanced at her companion; "Can you imagine the attention they all found out who I really was?"

This statement seemed to be more on Cassidy's wavelength; "Sure I can! You'd be an international superstar – the people would love you!"

"Exactly", finally they were getting somewhere; "People following you everywhere...interfering where they shouldn't be – the effects could be deadly if they screwed up our Ranger plans". Cassidy bit her lip as she processed the thought. "I'll tell you now that Osirico doesn't take prisoners; all he needs is one starstruck civilian to get in the way, never mind hundreds of them; and BANG!...He'd wipe them out like a fly".

"Don't be stupid...it couldn't be that bad", Cassidy answered, but her expression didn't quite support the words.

"Of course it could, we're more than happy as unknown heroes saving the world – there's far less chance of people getting hurt". The young reporter chewed over the information in her head, and was admittedly beginning to see Kira's side of the story.

A loud beeping noise interrupted the conversation momentarily and Kira looked down at her bracelet before tapping into the comms system.

"_Kira we need you down here, this guy's gonna be a tough one"._

Adam's voice fizzled away and the Yellow Ranger looked back at Cassidy; "I could be out there saving the world, but i'm talking to you", she pointed out.

"This is my first, probably my only chance at hitting the big time...this story will put me on the map!", Cassidy argued; "You've already got your fame, the record companies are going crazy trying to sign you – now it's my turn".

"Okay, but the next time you have to report on another civilian injured by a monster attack, don't come running to me", Kira replied sternly; "I know you've got a job to do, but don't you think that mine is a little more important?" she stood from her seat, ready to leave...

"Okay! Okay, i'll scrap the story!", Cassidy raised her hands in defeat; "But on one condition..."

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"Give it all you've got!", Xander growled menacingly as the three morphed Rangers faced off against the monster who had retreated earlier. "Mystic Muscle!", the empowered Green Ranger full-on rugby tackled Pralor to the ground, cracking the concrete slabs beneath them.

Xander stood right back up before picking the creature up by its chest armor and flinging it straight up in the air, towards the skies.

"He's mine!", Tori leapt skywards, unsheathing her sword and delivering a powerful strike on the monster's return journey to Earth, just as Adam fired shot after shot from the Blade Blaster straight into it's torso.

"Hope you're gonna leave some for me!" the Yellow Ranger's voice echoed out as she thrust a foot into the creature's back for good measure before landing neatly beside her teammates.

The smoldering heap that was Pralor clambered to its feet extremely unsteadily and pointed a shaky finger at the Rangers; "I may be defeated, but my master will live on!"

"Yeah, well we'll see about that", Adam inclined his head casually; "Combo time?"

"You know it", Tori replied from his right side as the Ptera Grips fused with the Ninja Sword in her hands.

Adam lifted the double-headed combination of his and Xander's axes onto his shoulder; "Time's up for you buddy..." he charged, closely followed by his Ninja teammate and in a blur of black and blue, the Rangers swiftly destroyed the creature.

"And another one bites the dust!", Kira finished cheerily, so of course it was only fitting that the monster regenerated to the size of a small skyscraper.

"You just had to say it", Xander muttered jokingly as he reached for his morpher; "It's Titan time!"

"_Galwit Mysto Prifior!"_

"Mystic Minotaur!"

Hayley deployed the rest of the Zords and whilst Xander was busy with his axe, the Shogun and Ptera Zords swiftly combined into their new-found formation. "Let's get this over with", Kira suggested from inside her cockpit.

"Sounds good to me...and the Dolphin's away!" Tori's blue machine shot forwards towards Pralor, upending him completely; "How'd you like my party trick?", she joked as the monster bobbed helplessly on the end of the Dolphin's nose. "To you Xander!", Pralor was thrown high into the air before the Zord's tail whipped around, smacking straight into its armor and sending it in the direction of the Green Ranger in a shower of sparks.

Xander waited for his moment like a pro baseball player before swinging the giant axe.

The weapon powerfully connected with Pralor's already defeated chest plate, sending him hurtling towards the ground. "Finish him off guys", he gestured with massive hands towards the 'mini-Megazord'.

"Would be a pleasure...", the Megazord turned towards its quarry; "Full power!", raw energy surged down through the Ptera rang gripped in the Shogun's hand as it flew towards Pralor, quickly ending his bout of terror amidst a large smoke cloud and a lick of flame.

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"So is this it then?"

"Yeah, do we all need to grow beards and mustaches?"

"You'll see...we came to a compromise " Kira replied with a grin, just as Cassidy's face blared up on the TV screen.

"What kind of compromise?"

"_Thanks John, i'd like to start by saying what an honor it is to have joined Reefside Central News..."_ The young reporter began excitedly. She was obviously not in the usual broadcasting studio due to the two plush armchairs, one of which, she sat in and the decorated room that was obviously designed for high-profile interviews. _"...And it's also a pleasure to have gained such a great first story...", _Adam audibly gulped from his place beside Kira on the couch, even though it was obvious that the Yellow Ranger had sorted _something_ out. _"Yes, I have the exclusive rights to the first __**ever**__ live interview with Reefside's rising superstar – Kira Ford!"_

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And there goes Chapter 7, hope you guys liked it :)


	9. Home Sweet Home

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

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"I look _ridiculous_", Xander commented as he surveyed his footwear.

"Only as ridiculous as the rest of us", Kira reasoned as she put on her own shoes.

"You know...i've never been bowling before", the Green Ranger added off-handedly as the slippery soles of the bright red bowling shoes nearly gave hi a one-way ticket to the floor.

"Then it's time to watch and learn", Adam rubbed his hands together gleefully as he confidently strode towards the ball rack. After carefully selecting a gleaming red sphere, the Black Ranger looked towards the end of the runway in front of him as the skittles automatically appeared. Standing a few feet back from the lane, the ball was already swinging by his side and Adam stepped forwards, releasing his grip, causing the ball to hurtle forwards...

Strike.

Adam turned smugly towards his team-mates; "And _that's_ how it's done".

"Uh huh", Tori looked less than impressed with Adam's victory as she swung her own ball towards the new set of pins.

Strike.

"How about that?"

"Hmm...", the Black Ranger stared down the alley with an air of contempt; "Are you challenging me?"

"Maybe", Tori replied in the same unknowing tone.

"You're on".

Xander raised his eyebrows slightly as he watched the two battle for supremacy whilst Kira wondered where on earth the sensible sides of their brains had wandered off to.

"Shall we?" Xander grabbed a ball from the rack and waved it in Kira's face.

"Sure", Kira approached the next bowling lane, all the while trying to drown out the cheers and curses coming from her noisy teammates. "After you", she gestured from Xander towards the ten gleaming pins at the far end of the highly polished lane.

"Okay, here goes...", with the ball held tightly in both hands, the Green Ranger launched it forwards, initiating several loud thumps as it bounced along, before crashing straight into the pins, earning him a few stern glances from the employees.

Strike.

"Alright!" Xander's face gleamed with pride.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's not exactly the right way of doing it..."

"Excuse me?", the look on Xander's face fell slightly as he gestured towards the ten toppled skittles.

"Okay, firstly; you hold the ball with _one_ hand and second; those holes there aren't for decoration". She pointed out three neatly drilled points in the ball in her hand.

"No problemo!" Xander confidently selected another ball, and after five minutes of Kira sniggering helplessly as he figured out which three of his five fingers to put in the holes, he quickly strode up to the throw line...

"Whoa!"

CRASH!

Kira snorted with laughter once again as the hapless Green Ranger fell face first into the floor, causing the ball to fly out of his hands and straight into the nearest lane...

"Xander!" Adam's face flushed red with frustration as his ball was barged out of the way by Xander's rogue one. "That was gonna be a perfect strike!", he moaned as Tori grinned with delight in the fashion of a Cheshire cat.

"Sorry mate", he looked over apologetically and steadily regained his feet as the bowling alley workers continued to scowl at him.

"Hey, don't apologize", Tori clapped Xander on the back affectionately.

Taking what he thought was the wisest decision, the Green Ranger opted to sit an watch his three teammates as they formed a three-way battle. Smiling to himself, the scene sparked memories from not so long ago in Briarwood when the Mystic Force gang would've gone out and done the same things together.

Sighing, the thoughts triggered something else. Although Xander would never admit it directly; he missed the four people he left behind – they had gladly welcomed him into the group when he was in a place full of strangers and even though they all had their annoying points...he missed them badly.

However, Xander's musings and the rest of the game was swiftly brushed aside when the multi-tonal jingle of four morphers loudly interrupted them. The civilian Rangers looked between each other as a few curious stares came their way; tracing the noise.

Casually walking away, they waited until they were safely around the back of the building's car park before answering the call to duty.

"_Hate to break it up guys, but we've got trouble",_ Hayley's apologetic tone rang through.

"No problemo, where's the fire?"

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"Give me the Power Rangers!" a rather threatening-looking creature that could have resembled an evil human hedgehog loomed over two absolutely terrified civilians as they cowered against a wall, holding each other tightly.

"Let them go!"

The creature snarled and turned to see the fully-suited Black Ranger calmly stood behind him. "Finally...you've come out of hiding".

"You're gonna regret wanting to fight us", Kira warned.

"The orders from my Commander were to destroy you...and he _doesn't_ like failure!" the monster sneered as it slowly unearthed a long whip-like weapon the seemed to twist around a black flame. "You first", he calmly gestured for the Rangers to attack as they each sized up his weapon and the spines that covered his body.

"You asked for it!" Adam, Tori and Kira all launched themselves at the creature in unison whilst keeping one more step back than was normal to avoid being pierced alive by the spines.

Still on a bit of a downer, Xander finally joined the fray, although his three teammates instantly picked up on his half-hearted attacking moves. However, they remained silent and continued in their attempt to pummel the monster.

Finally, their persistence paid off and when Tori landed a lightning-fast foot into the creature's knees, he shot helplessly to the ground, giving Adam and Kira the perfect opportunity to unleash their blasters – which they did with expert precision.

The weakened creature was now an easy target he regained his feet and Xander thankfully picked up on this as the axe mode of his Magistaff swung towards the monster...

"Too slow!", unbelievably, the creature had _caught _the blade before it had even had chance to hit him. However, the monster's attention was distracted and he didn't even see the Thundermax Saber flying towards him.

Xander wrenched his axe free as the creature fell and the Rangers surrounded him. "I will not be defeated!" the monster growled angrily.

"Well lucky for you, you won't have to tell that to Osirico".

"It wasn't my Lord who sent me", the creature retorted with a hint of smug satisfaction on his face.

"It doesn't matter, you're still finished".

"Not if I can help it!", and with that the monster staged a last attempt to charge the victorious Rangers.

"Wrap him up Xander" Adam said, almost lazily.

"Huh? Oh yeah...Magistaff!", he pointed the weapon at the creature and thick, green vines sprung out of the ground, wrapping themselves tightly around their target.

"He's all yours", Tori and Kira stepped back to allow Adam the final strike. The Black Ranger leapt high into the air, bringing the Power Axe hurtling down with him...

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The Rangers had barely stepped onto the first stair that led down to the Dino Lab before Adam turned to his green teammate and asked the burning question; "Okay, what's up with you?"

"What do you mean?", Xander faked the innocent look he gave back.

"You've been on a downer ever since we were called to sort out that monster", Kira pointed out.

"And you weren't exactly begging to defeat it either", Tori added as Tommy and Hayley both came into view.

Xander sighed defeatedly, it was obvious that every one of them had picked up on his subdued mood. "Yeah, I was kinda thinking about something else".

"Do you want to tell us, or do we have to wait to find out?", Adam replied half-jokingly.

"It sounds kinda silly..."

"We're good listeners".

"I miss my friends in Briarwood", Xander blurted out.

"Oh..." the other Rangers looked at each other uneasily; "I...err...I know we've not been a team for very long but-..."

"No, no it's not you", Xander was quick to correct; "You guys are great, honestly, I wouldn't have missed this for the world...".

"But you still miss your old friends", Tori finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah...it's just...they were my first _proper_ friends", Xander explained; "When I first moved here, I was just the new kid with a stupid accent...until I met them. They were the first ones who were friends with me for who I was – not who they wanted me to be".

"Hey, we understand okay?" Adam put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I just don't want you guys to think-..."

"It's _fine!_" Adam reiterated the point; "I'm sure they're missing you too...why don't you go see them, huh?"

"Saving the world kinda takes priority".

"It doesn't when you're fighting the way you were", Kira gave him an accusing stare.

"Sorry about that, I guess I didn't exactly have my mind on the battle".

"Don't worry about it...so go see your friends!" Adam stressed.

"We've got trouble", Hayley's voice interrupted the conversation.

"Duty calls", Xander virtually ran towards the surveillance screens; "Urgh, now _that's_ a face for radio". He pulled a grimace towards the creature onscreen who seemed to have been designed using a large shovel and the back end of a cow.

"Nice!" Tommy also gave it a disapproving look to accompany the sarcastic comment.

"So are you guys ready to kick his butt or what?" Xander waggled his morpher at the ready.

The other Rangers raised their eyebrows slightly at Xander's sudden change of mood, but nevertheless they produced their own morphers; "We're ready when you are".

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

Tommy held up his hand to stop the Rangers before they raced away on their bikes; "Just be careful on this one...something doesn't quite add up here, it just doesn't seem right to me".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

As they arrived at their location, the Rangers were slightly surprised to see that their enemy was as calm as could be – simply stood in the middle of the street, it's less than attractive face not phased by their arrival.

"Welcome Power Rangers", he greeted in an almost friendly tone.

"I'm glad you could make it", a cold, metallic voice added as the group tensed slightly and Raptir appeared next to the monster.

"What do you want?", Xander questioned impatiently.

"Oh _we_ want nothing, it is my master who you'll be dealing with", Raptir replied; "i'm sure you remember him – my _Commander_".

Four different heartbeats suddenly quickened sharply as realization hit the Rangers like a ton of bricks in their faces; "Uh oh..." none of the four dared to glance behind themselves to where Raptir was gesturing until they all suddenly wheeled around on the spot.

"Glad to see me?" an unfriendly voice hissed towards them; the creature's forked tongue flickering maliciously.

"Ammix", Adam stated in cold disbelief.

"I guess you didn't think our last conversation through".

Adam remembered it clearly, although only now did he take Ammix' words seriously - _"'You have no idea what i'm capable of!'"._

"You see, what you fail to understand is that I am _immortal - _every time you destroy me I will just regenerate...into a better, more powerful being - stronger every time, so I think it would be in your best interests to back off". The Rangers remained defiantly silent. "In that case, we will fight another day", the serpent continued; "But for now I leave you in the skilled hands of Damner here". He made way for the monster before disappearing with Raptir in a familiar flash of jet black lightning.

"Prepare to meet your end!", the creature stood ready before them.

"Prepare to meet yours!" Xander retorted sharply as he pressed a code into his morpher before a giant pair of red boxing gloves appeared on his hands; "Mystic Force Fighters! HA!" He delivered a blinding punch straight into the chest of the creature which was more than enough to send him hurtling to the ground with giant hole in his armor.

The temporary distraction made enough time for the other Rangers to jump on their bikes as Xander called back upon his Racer.

_Galwit Mysto Aerotan!_

"Going up!" with Xander quickly aboard, the sleek green machine wrestled Damner onto its nose before rocketing skywards where he was quickly batted away in a flurry of sparks.

"Ahhhhhh!" the creature fell rapidly towards the Earth as Xander hovered above.

"Our turn!", the rest of the team kicked their bikes into action before forcing them to leap through the air towards the plummeting Damner; "Lasers, fire!". A trio of separate explosions erupted simultaneously on his body as he thudded into a hard concrete sidewalk to cement his fate.

"Woo hoo!", Xander landed neatly beside his teammates.

"Now _that's_ more like it buddy!", Adam clapped him on the back appreciatively.

"But we're doing it all over again", Tori sighed.

_By the power of the demons, arise!_

"Come and get me!", the giant creature roared.

"With pleasure!", Xander whipped out his morpher once more; "It's Titan time!"

_Galwit Mysto Prifior!_

"Ancient power, Mystic Minotaur!"

"Let's get up there...if you would Hayley".

"_Of course, the Zords are on their way"._

"Adam, care to join up?" Kira's voice drifted through the intercom.

"Would be my pleasure...Shogun Zord combine!"

"Ptera Zord combine!"

"Is that the best you can do?", the monster sneered; "This is going to be easier than I thought!" he ran towards the Zords, his footsteps thundering on the ground.

"I don't think so...Ninja water wall!" the Dolphin surged forwards, bringing with it a colossal wave. A gurgling noise escaped the monster's mouth as he was washed off his feet.

"I've got an idea", Xander began as he strode up to the 'mini-Megazord'.

"And what's that?", Adam asked, a slight hint of apprehension in his voice.

"Just trust me...", the Minotaur got closer to them before picking the small Megazord up straight off the ground. "Get ready!" As it dawned on Adam and Kira what Xander was about to do, they hastily brought the Ptera Rang out in front of them.

"And say goodbye!", Xander directed his words towards the creature as he flung the Megazord forwards with all his strength. The Zords rocketed forwards and together with the Ptera Rang blitzed straight through the center of his body before landing smartly on the other side. Needless to say, the monster spontaneously self-combusted to become a heap of body parts and junk metal.

The Minotaur punched the air in victory; "I'm back in business!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"You were right Doctor O", Kira sighed as the Rangers entered the Lab.

"As always", Adam admitted.

"Do you think he was telling the truth?", Xander questioned; "Can he really regenerate?"

"I think the answer to that question is evident", replied Tommy.

"I know...but he said he'd get 'stronger every time'...and that doesn't sound good".

"No, it doesn't", the Doctor acknowledged; "But i'm sure we'll find out soon enough, I-..." Tommy stopped mid-sentence as the clear noise of his front door opening and closing drafted down the stairs. Slightly nervous at the thought of intruders, he slowly made is way over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up...

"Surprise!" four unfamiliar voices yelled simultaneously.

"What the-..?" Tommy stood back as the four 'intruders' barreled past him.

"Xander!", a girl with bright pink streaks through her short hair grabbed the Green Ranger in a tight bear hug.

"Whoa!", Xander hugged her back; "What are you doing here V?" he looked to her three companions and grinned broadly at the sight of his friends.

"We thought we'd pay you a visit", Nick answered with a smile.

"Yeah, you can't go running off and not expecting us to call around", Madison added.

"This place is _so_ cool!" Chip contributed, although completely off-topic.

"Can someone please tell me why I have most of the Mystic Force Rangers in my basement?" Tommy butted in.

Immediately, Adam, Tori and Kira each looked away and feigned interest; also denying all knowledge of the incident. Tommy raised an accusing eyebrow towards them all whilst Hayley defended her computers from Chip's eager hands.

"Okay!", Adam broke first; "We brought them here to cheer Xander up".

"Yeah, it's too weird not having him bouncing around like one of the happy little elves", said Tori.

"Oh come on Doctor O, it's only a one off thing", Kira pleaded.

"Yeah, well if Jason and company turn up at my door the next time i'm having an off day, then I know who to throttle first", he retorted, abruptly shutting Kira up.

"It's kinda like Rootcore but more high-tech", Nick observed as he casually poked his head into the vehicle storage bay... "Awesome!" he positively danced on the spot as his eyes fell on the three gleaming supercharged Ranger bikes. "Hey, can I take one of these out for a ride?".

"Okay Nick, calm down", Maddie joked as the door hissed shut; "We _are_ here to see Xander".

"I think our little Xander was getting homesick!", Vida laughed as she ruffled the Green Ranger's hair mockingly.

Xander blushed slightly; "No, I just...err...missed you guys".

"Aww...who'd have thought he could be sentimental", Nick grinned.

"Anyway, you're welcome back home any day", Madison said.

"I've got a question", Chip raised his hand in the air like a kid at school.

"Sure mate".

"What is with the fashion sense?"

"Huh?", he followed Chip's finger down to the floor; "Ah...", he wiggled his feet which still bore the brightly colored bowling shoes. In their haste to combat the monster, the Rangers had obviously left the alley still wearing them.

"Looks like we're taking a trip back there anyway so how about it then?", Adam turned to the group; "Mystics versus Retros?"

"You're on!"

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Just in case anyone is interested, I have now added a chapter list to my first post in this thread, which has got all the future chapter titles on it and leaves you all free to speculate over upcoming storylines ;)


	10. Third time Lucky

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

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"Doctor O, what's the big rush here?", Kira began as soon as she stepped into Tommy's kitchen.

"I have no idea, she won't even tell _me_". Tommy was clearly frustrated by that fact and was also wondering why their tech whiz had called them all in at 7am.

"Nice coffee you got here Tommy", Adam added off-handedly as he swirled the liquid around his mug. The Doctor shook his head at his comment as he glanced at the three Rangers that had wandered into his house and helped themselves to breakfast at their own leisure.

"It had better be something good", Xander said through a mouthful of cereal.

"You better believe it", a voice in the doorway announced that Hayley had finally surfaced from the basement.

"So, what is it?", Tori asked as she polished off her last slice of hot toast.

"Come see for yourselves", she gestured down towards the Lab and one by one, the curious five descended the stairs.

"I kept it all secret before so that you wouldn't get distracted..." Hayley explained as they walked.

"Kept _what_ secret?" Xander interrupted impatiently.

"You'll see in a minute!" she replied as she took a seat in front of the main computer and started typing; "Here we go...there!"

"Cool!"

"Awesome!"

"But that's-..." Kira began in awe.

"...A Megazord", Adam finished as they stared at the schematic diagram onscreen.

"It sure is – i've been working on it ever since we got the Zords back".

"How the hell did you keep this secret?" Xander asked.

Hayley shrugged in response; "It's been keeping me and Alpha busy anyway".

"So _that's_ where he's been, we haven't seen him for weeks!" Tori concluded.

"But i'll tell you now that it isn't quite finished", Hayley warned; "Each of your Zords was built using completely different technology – i've had to reprogram _everything. _There's just one problem i've got with concentrating the power flow that actually forms the Megazord...so like I said, it's very nearly there, but it isn't ready...yet".

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"I have been looking forward to this all day!", Adam rubbed his hands together eagerly as one of Hayley's deluxe blueberry smoothies was placed down in front of him. His three friends merely rolled their eyes before carrying on with their interrupted conversation.

"How awesome did that thing look!" Xander stated excitedly in a hushed voice.

"I've gotta admit, i'm looking forward to the test drive", said Tori.

"Man, I think i'm gonna go _conjure_ a super-size monster to fight", Xander continued.

"And I think that you're getting a little over-excited", Kira added with a grin; "You're acting like you've never seen a Megazord before".

"I haven't...well, not for a few years anyway", he amended.

"Join the club", Tori muttered in response.

However, Xander wasn't listening; his head was inclined towards the window, where swirling jet black clouds were rapidly closing in and a few seconds later...the skies went dark.

"Something tells me that we're in trouble", Tori slowly rose from her seat..."Ahhh!"

A sudden light pierced the dark as a flaming ball of energy stormed straight through the wall of the Cyberspace, sending the Blue Ranger hurtling into the bare wall behind her. Kira and Xander could only watch as Tori's head smacked hard against the stone before she crashed to the floor, unconscious.

"Tori!", Xander blundered through the maze of fallen chairs and tables as people scrambled for the exit. Quickly assessing the damage he propped her against one of the computer desks; "She'll be fine...she'll just have one hell of a headache in the morning", he confirmed, relieved.

"Let's see what's going on", Adam sped out of the door, covered top to toe in his otherwise untouched blueberry smoothie, quickly pursued by the others.

"_Guys, i'm getting energy readings off the scale back here, you might want to keep your eyes open". _Hayley's slightly stressed voice sounded out loud through the morphers.

"It's too late for that...I think we already found the problem". Kira replied as a swarm of Hornets ran towards them. "Cover up everyone!" Adam and Xander thrust their fingers in their ears just as Kira unleashed the Ptera Scream.

The sonic attack swept the first wave of Hornets away, keeping the others back and giving the Rangers sufficient time to morph into action and retaliate.

"Come on!" Adam punched the first Hornet to reach him hard in the chest before bringing his recoiling elbow back into the face of another, wincing slightly at the heat from the flames that issued from their bodies. Leapfrogging over another, he sharply stuck out his foot to trip it over before leaping into the air with a spinning kick to take out the remaining three at once.

"Too slow", Kira stated sarcastically as she was forced into doing the splits to avoid having her head taken off by one of the creature's daggers. Grabbing the offending arm she wrenched her hold before using it to pull herself to her feet whilst simultaneously slamming the Hornet into the floor. Leaping over an incoming foot, she sent a multitude of tornado kicks flying into the assembled group; smacking the forerunners into the ground. Kira smiled at the two that remained surrounding her before punching them both hard in the stomach.

"You gotta love magic!", Xander grinned as he conjured vines out of the ground that swiftly wrapped themselves around several Hornets. The dim creatures struggled in vain as Xander neatly kicked each into oblivion. "Hey!" he twisted around to see one of the Hornets trying to grab onto his arm; "I don't think so...Ha!" taking a strong hold on the monster's wrist, Xander deftly flipped the creature straight over onto hard concrete. Only one Hornet now remained facing him as it quickly whipped out its dagger, slashing through thin air as Xander ducked over backwards; almost falling over but instead turning the move into a back flip of sorts, catching the creature's weapon with his feet and sending it clattering away. Xander flashed his trademark smile towards the Hornet before roundhouse-kicking it to join its friends.

Satisfied with their work, the Rangers brushed themselves down and after making sure that there were no other visible dangers, they each reentered the Cyberspace. Xander rushed over to check on Tori, who was now slowly coming around whilst Adam and Kira surveyed the damage.

"Hayley is _not_ going to be happy" Adam remarked as they stared at the huge hole that had been blasted into the outer wall.

"You got that right", Kira agreed, looking around at the chaos of upturned furniture and several fried computers.

"What the hell just happened?" Tori mumbled as she made her way towards the two; her arm around Xander's neck for support; "My head feels like it's about to explode".

"No idea..." Adam replied, trying hard not to stare at the very large bump that had formed on the Blue Ranger's head; "It was just like this big...fireball".

"Yeah, completely took you out", Kira added, yet unable to shed anymore light on the situation.

There was silence for a minute before Tori spoke again; "What are you all looking at?", she eyed up their curious, yet amused stares towards her.

"Oh...err...nothing", Xander answered quickly...too quickly.

"Let me see", she pushed past the others to look at her reflection in a decorated wall mirror that adorned the other wall; "What the-...I look..."

"Cute?" This comment earned Xander a smack upside the head from Kira; "What?"

"Shut up", Tori muttered through a grimace.

However, Xander's cheeky reply never made it out of his mouth as terrified screams filled the streets outside once more. The Rangers leapt out of the building through the newly-created gap in the wall to see a menacing-looking creature walking towards them who was obviously one of Osirico's many followers.

"I'd advise you to run now..." he threatened, its cold voice making the hairs on the back of the Rangers' necks stand up; "...It will save you the trouble of fighting me".

"Dream on, we're gonna stop you right here, right now", Adam retorted.

_By the power of the demons, arise!_

"Come up and get me!"

"With pleasure!" The group swiftly morphed into their Ranger forms.

As if on cue, the Dolphin, Ptera and Shogun Zords streamed towards them, waiting for their masters as Adam, Tori and Kira duly leapt on board.

"And here comes the Minotaur!"

_Galwit Mysto Prifior!_

The Rangers' Zords barely had time to look ready as the monster attacked, swiping straight across their torsos with razor-sharp claws. The Shogun Zord fell flat; holding out its arms to break the fall as Adam swung the huge machine into a roll. Springing back to its feet, the humanoid Zord swung a powerful fist in the creature's direction, but it was easily deflected – as was a similar attack from the much larger Minotaur.

"Try this on...Dolphin Lasers!" the fire barely even made its mark on the monster's armor.

"Ptera Zord, attack!" the creature growled in mild frustration before swiping the Pterodactyl out of the sky.

"Time for plan B...Shogun Zord combine!"

"Ptera Zord, combine!"

"What? A Megazord?!", the monster stammered; "...No problem!", he added, the feigned look of worry disappearing from his face as quickly as it had come.

Roaring loudly in anticipation, the huge creature charged directly towards the small Megazord. Adam and Kira immediately tensed as the Megazord held the Pterodactyl's wings in their saber-like mode.

"Ready...", the monster reached striking distance; "...And now!" the Ptera Saber flew through the air...

...Only to be caught by their adversary; "Nice try!" he gripped the blade tightly before flinging it aside and clawing the 'Mini Megazord' harshly to the ground in two powerful swipes. "So, what's your next move?" the creature positively glowed with evil triumph as it surveyed the heap of unmoving metal.

"We've got to use the Megazord", Xander reasoned to his teammates.

"But Hayley said it wasn't ready", Kira argued.

"_Yes. I did!", _the person in question's voice exclaimed through the intercom. _"If you try combining now, then it could put _weeks_ onto its finish date"._

"That's a risk we'll just have to take", said Adam.

"_This is a bad idea, I hope you all know that"_, Tommy's voice now joined Hayley's.

"We agree, but it's our only chance...", Adam looked at his fellow Zords; "You guys ready?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Form the Megazord!"

"Whoa!" Adam staggered slightly in his cockpit as the Shogun Zord suddenly leapt into the air; splitting itself into various different pieces that would eventually combine with the others.

Both the Dolphin and Ptera Zords followed similar procedures as Xander stood at the ready; his giant form obviously designed to be the main body of the Megazord. "This is so cool!", he exclaimed as the many sections of Zord began to combine with him; "This is...Ow!", a sudden electric charge shot through his body; "That wasn't meant to happen", he muttered.

"I'm losing power!", Kira's voice echoed through the systems.

"Me too!", Adam's stressed tone was also evident.

"Ahhhh!", a ripple of charge swept straight through each Zord as they sparked violently before a torrent of energy blasted them apart from each other.

"What's the matter Rangers?", the monster leered; "Bitten off more than you can chew?"

"All my systems are down", Tori observed as she surveyed her darkened place inside the Dolphin Zord; "I can't get back up".

"What the hell happened?" Xander asked frustratedly.

"_Do I have to say I told you so?"_, Hayley's voice sounded through and she couldn't help but add a hint of smug satisfaction despite the Rangers' predicament.

"Point taken", said Kira; "Can you help us get back into this, because this guy is getting impatient". She nodded towards the monster, who was obviously supremely confident if he was resisting attacking the Rangers whilst they were evidently defenseless.

"_Just a second..."_, the sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard were heard through the communications system; _"...Got it – i'm activating an emergency power supply, but it won't hold for very long"._

"I've had enough of this!", the giant monster relaxed his stance; "I will return when you weaklings are ready to give me a better fight!" With that, the creature turned away, disappearing in a flash of black lightning.

Just as the Zords had finally righted themselves, their enemy had gone; "He got away!" Xander stamped his foot in frustration.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

The evil force of Osirico sat calmly in his mountainous lair, his longest-serving and most loyal warrior of his army stood obediently beside him, feeding the villain as much information as was possible about his various plans - mainly the ones to rid the Earth of the newly-formed, yet possibly the greatest team of Power Rangers ever seen. Osirico had promised both his sons that the self-titled Retro Rangers would not stand in the way of their plans for world-domination. However their privacy was interrupted by the arrival of the latest monster to try its hand at the task.

"Sir, I have almost succeeded in my attempts to destroy the Power Rangers! Their Zords were out of the fight and they could have easily been destroyed".

Although the creature spoke to Ammix, it was Osirico who spoke. "So they could have 'easily been destroyed?'" he seemed to contemplate this for a second; "Then tell me...why did you not go ahead and_ do it_!", his voice rose into a loud growl at the end of his sentence, indicating that he wasn't too pleased with progress.

"I sent you to defeat the Power Rangers...", Ammix hissed, taking over where Osirico had left off; "So go away and do not come back until you have succeeded!"

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"You're all just as stubborn as each other", Tommy shook his head wearily as he took a seat beside Hayley at the computer.

"I _knew_ I shouldn't have said anything yet", the technician mentally kicked herself as Alpha shook his robotic head from side to side.

"I'm sorry Hayley, we should have listened to you", Adam apologized.

"It's okay, you did what you had to, otherwise, that monster could have destroyed you. I just hope that it hasn't messed up any of my programming – a serious power failure like that can easily do lots of damage".

"Aye-yai-yai, I hope we can get it fixed in time!" Alpha's lights flashed as he disappeared back to the Zord bay.

"So do I, because it looks like we're going to need them..." a loud wailing suddenly issued from the computer as Hayley brought up the surveillance cameras. "I need you to try and hold him down there as long as possible - we can't risk him growing to super-size without the Megazord being ready for battle".

"We'll do our best". Morphing into action, the four took off to the scene at speed on their super-powered bikes and racer.

"You get down there and help Alpha...i'll keep watch on the Rangers", Tommy motioned for Hayley to move to where she was needed as he took her place in front of the monitors.

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"Hey! You!"

The monster turned just in time to be bombarded with laser fire from the Raptor and Shark Cycles. After crashing to the ground, the creature regained his feet, snarling his disgust at the attack; "So...only you _two_ think you have what it takes to bring me down?"

"In your dreams!"

"You can't forget us!"

The monster looked towards the sky, in search of the source of the voices, just in time to see a Glider and the Mystic Racer circling above him. "And I thought today was going to be boring!" he sneered before leaping skywards.

"I don't think so!", both Tori and Xander leapt from their airborne perches, weapons outstretched as they hurled themselves downwards, both slashing through the monster's armor on their way back down to earth.

The two Rangers landed calmly beside their comrades, just as the monster crashed into the concrete a few feet away. "Now you've made me mad!" flicking out his powerful hands, the creature triggered the appearance of what appeared to be extremely long yet extremely sharp claws from each of his fingertips. The talons were each about a foot long and as they glistened in the sun, the Rangers' eyes widened slightly.

With a thunderous battle cry, the monster charged, aiming its huge claws directly at the Rangers. The team each drew their own weapons and attempted to dodge and defend themselves against the attacks, but the creature was too fast and his claws too sharp as they swiped strongly across the Rangers' chests, leaving each of them wounded and despite the suits holding together, five crimson stripes were visible against the material.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!", the monster stood proudly over the Rangers like an Eagle would watch over its prey as they writhed on the floor, attempting to regain their feet. "I beat you on the ground, let's see how you do a little higher up!"

_By the power of the demons, arise!_

Pushing themselves upright through gritted teeth and using their weapons to balance themselves, the Rangers glanced upwards at the last thing they wanted to see.

"Uh oh...", Kira tapped into her morpher; "Hayley?"

"_I read you Kira"_, Tommy answered.

"Can you see what we can?"

"_Yeah, but thankfully, I think Hayley's finished on the Zords"._

"Really?"

"_There's only one way to find out",_ he replied before Hayley's voice came online.

"_Systems are looking good, so why not?"_.

"Alright!" the cheers of the Rangers were audible down the communicator.

"_Here goes...the Zords are on their way", _Hayley confirmed, and sure enough, a nearby rumble of the ground signaled their arrival. The Rangers leapt aboard as usual, but the monster had already started on the offensive as the Shogun Zord was batted to the ground by the enormous claws.

"Dolphin Lasers, fire!"

Tori sent a stream of lasers towards the creature, which distracted it long enough for the Rangers to be able to shout the anticipated words. "Form the Megazord!"

As before, the Shogun Zord split down into various parts, as did the Ptera and Dolphin Zords whilst Xander stood stock still and the Megazord pieces combined with his enlarged form.

"We did it!" Adam sounded slightly surprised as he looked down and saw the giant Megazord for the first time.

"Woohoo!"

"Oh yeah!"

The Megazord turned to face the monster, but he was stood at the ready; "Take this!", a barrage of laser fire erupted from his eyes and thudded into the Megazord.

Taking the Rangers completely by surprise, the giant machine staggered a good few steps backwards...

"_That was unexpected"_, Hayley's worried voice came over the intercom; _"That kind of fire shouldn't even have phased you"_. As if on cue, the lights inside the Megazord began to flicker and spark as the systems short-circuited; _"This isn't good!". _The Rangers each grappled for control but all they got in return was a huge power surge straight through their bodies.

"We're going down!", Adam yelled, stating what was obvious as the Megazord slumped, before a large explosion rippled through it, blasting each individual Zord away and firing the Rangers out as an afterthought.

"Ahhhh!" the team each landed painfully back on the ground amidst a shower of smoke and sparks. Unable to hold their energy, they were each forced to demorph as they lay, defeated.

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Hayley's cursing could have been heard several miles away if it hadn't been for the walls surrounding the Dino Lab; "I can't believe it's still not right!"

"It's okay, you'll get it working...I know you will", Tommy reassured.

"I hope you're right about that", Hayley replied as she pulled up the schematics for the Megazord; "It can't be a massive glitch in the programming that's causing it, otherwise they wouldn't even have _formed_ the Megazord...Gotcha!" she pointed at a bunch of numbers and figures in the midst of the screen that obviously meant something important.

"Rangers?", Tommy called down each of their communicators as Hayley continued to type at super-fast speeds; "Adam?..Tori?..Xander?..Kira?.."

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"We're here Tommy, we're okay", it was Adam who replied.

"Oh please!", the creature's face loomed over the defenseless Rangers; "This is deja-vu for me!" he aimed a giant foot at the team before slamming it down with force.

"Look out!", Xander cried before they all threw themselves aside. "This guy's asking for it!", the Green Ranger whipped out his Morpher; "Galwit Mysto Pri-..."

"No!", Tori's hand came out of nowhere to slam the phone shut; "You do that, then you're going to get yourself killed...we have to play it safe whilst Hayley has fixed the Megazord".

"Okay, okay", Xander caught Tori's caring eyes and re-pocketed the phone.

"Tori's right, we've got no choice but to lie low", Adam agreed.

"And let him destroy the city?" Xander nodded skywards to the huge creature that was now rampaging through Reefside.

"Put it this way...", Kira stepped in; "...He destroys us; then he destroys the world – not just the city".

The battle-planning conversation was harshly interrupted a few seconds later when a hysterical bunch of civilians ran blindly into them. Staggering hurriedly to her feet, a woman grabbed hold of Adam's shoulders; "That monster's going to kill us all!"

"Listen...", but the woman babbled on; "Listen!", Adam reiterated, finally catching her attention; "No-one's getting killed today, just go find the safest place you can...the Power Rangers will come and save us, okay?" Nodding energetically and without question, the group ran as fast as they could towards a clustered group of buildings.

"Rangers!", an evil voice boomed down towards them from the giant that was their enemy. "Do you not like my little game? It's called 'Power Ranger hunting'..."

"Uh oh...", on the plus side, the creature was no longer attacking the city, but on the down side, he was now attempting to attack them. The Rangers walked quickly backwards, trying to get out of his line of sight, but a huge fist swiped through the air moments later, causing the group to dive to the floor for cover.

"You can't get away! There's no escape for you this time!" he sneered.

"Hayley! The Zords!", Adam shouted hurriedly into his morpher.

"_Just a few minutes longer, I promise"_, came the stressed reply.

However, negotiating was put out of the question as the huge creature stomped towards them, swatting aside anything that got in his way. The Rangers scrambled for cover, finally taking shelter in what was left of what appeared to have been a small restaurant. However, the building's roof was non-existent and the four had to make do with crouching flat against the wall in the hope of remaining unseen.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

The ground shook violently as the creature drew nearer, large chunks of brick and plaster raining down around the Rangers' heads. Shielding their faces against the debris, the group pressed even closer to the wall, hoping that they were not about to be crushed by several tonnes of falling bricks.

However, a deft swipe of a giant hand took out said wall, leaving the Rangers completely exposed as the impact knocked each of them to the ground. "Found you!", the creature growled lowly as it raised a super-size blaster in its right hand, the Rangers unable to move; "Nowhere to run now!".

He fired.

Instinctively raising their arms as a means of feeble protection, the Rangers failed to notice for a good few seconds that the blast never reached them, but instead, a giant Pterodactyl stood protectively in front of them, its wings deflecting the laser fire. Moments later, the Shogun and Dolphin Zords also came into view, determined to defend their owners.

"About time!", Xander commented jokingly and within a few seconds, the Mystic Minotaur had joined the gang.

"Thanks Hayley", Adam praised down his morpher.

"_No problem...I think you know what to do"_, she replied suggestively.

"We're taking this guy down", he answered as the remaining Rangers leapt into their respective cockpits, morphing as they went.

"So...you're finally ready to play!", the creature leered as he stood to face them.

"Except this is one game you're going to lose", Tori retorted.

"Let's do this!", Kira added.

"Here _we_ go!", Xander commented rather excitedly.

"Retroforce Megazord, now!"

This time around, there was no whining from the engines, no sinking feeling that everything was going to spark out, no problems...

As Xander stood stock still, knowing that his part in this formation was relatively easy, he watched as his right leg detached from the rest of his body and remoulded itself into a diamond-shaped shield.

Now the way was free for the other Zords to combine around him as the Dolphin Zord neatly folded its body upwards, allowing it to attach to the Minotaur as the new right leg.

The Ptera Zord's head meanwhile, merged with that of Xander's to form a newly styled face for the Megazord, whilst the wings secured themselves on the Minotaur's back as its new means of flight. Finally, the Shogun Zord split into several smaller fragments, each combining at various points of the Megazord to serve as a highly protective armor.

"Woohoo!", as the Megazord stood ready for battle, the Minotaur's axe rose into the air, reforming itself into a deadly-looking double-edged sword, just as each of the Rangers were transported into one larger and more central cockpit.

"I've beaten better than this in my sleep!", the creature jeered, trying to maintain his advantage.

"Well, there's a first time for everything...Mystic Sword!", the Megazord raised the huge weapon at the ready.

"_Don't forget, I gave you _plenty_ of upgrades",_ Hayley's voice interrupted through the intercom.

"Oh yeah?" Adam replied.

"_Oh yeah_", Hayley repeated; "_Try this on...initiating Dual Blade Mode_" she confirmed, just as the magical sword held by the Megazord visibly replicated itself and with the shield now firmly attached to the Megazord's back, both hands now held identical swords.

"Not bad", Adam teased as the monster began its charge.

"_All you gotta do is light the thrusters and this guy is history"._

"You got it...Thrusters, ignite!", the two swords were raised in front of the Megazord in a cross shape as it streaked towards the monster at a lightning fast speed..."Slash Attack!" the mighty machine slammed its weapons into its target as it passed by before skidding to a neat stop not far away.

"I d-don't...believe...it!" the creature gasped, staring down at his own claws as they disintegrated right in front of his eyes before, finally, his whole body became engulfed in a brilliant golden light and exploded spectacularly for all to see.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

"Ratings, people?" Xander hinted at the performance of the new Megazord as he slurped noisily from his cup.

"Ten out of ten for sure", Tori replied as she crashed down onto the comfortable sofa next to Xander, holding a large ice-pack to the enormous bump on her forehead that had just decided to start being twice as painful as before.

"Agreed", Adam nodded as he surveyed what was in front of him.

"Yeah, the power was more than incredible", Kira complimented from her seat at the table beside Adam.

"I'll say...", the Black Ranger added as he gleefully put his hands on a well-earned blueberry smoothie – seeing that the last one ended up down his clothes as opposed to in his stomach. About to place his lips around the glass, it was only right that the four morphers should ring out with their unique tones.

"What's up Dr. O?", Kira was first to answer the call.

"_We've got trouble at the school Rangers!" _replied Alpha's robotic voice.

"We're on our way", Tori ended the brief conversation and was first out of the door, quickly pursued by Xander.

"Nooooo...", Adam wailed childishly as Kira virtually dragged him away from his prized smoothie.

"Come on, i'll buy you another as soon as we get back, I promise", she bribed; "But we've got monsters to destroy".

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And that's the end of that chapter! Thanks to everyone who's still reading :)

Coming next...

Chapter 10: Fight or Flight?


	11. Fight or Flight?

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

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"So, what happened again?" Hayley asked as she turned the sign on the Cyberspace door from 'Open' to 'Closed'.

"The Hornets got a little 'boom happy'", Adam explained as he wheeled several fried computers out of the back door.

"You got that right", Tori confirmed, pointing towards her swollen forehead as she swept up the mountain of shattered glass that had fallen inside.

"Yeah, they must have gotten up on the wrong side of bed", Xander added. He was doing the same job as Tori, except he was outside the building.

"Look on the bright side...at least no-one was hurt", Kira reasoned.

"Only my business", Hayley muttered as she reverted the upturned sofas to their original state.

"Where's Doctor O?", Kira asked, noticing his absence.

"He said he'd got classes this morning", Adam replied, before turning his attention to the vacuum cleaner.

"Sure he has...", Hayley commented; "He's just afraid he'll spontaneously combust if he does any sort of cleaning".

Adam snorted with laughter just as the Cyberspace door opened and the subject of their conversation walked in; "I'll let _you_ tell him that".

"I thought you were teaching this morning?", Hayley inquired innocently.

"I was, but I let them out early", Tommy replied before sinking down into a chair.

"Oh right, it's funny, I was just telling Adam all about your allergy to cleaning".

"Oh yeah", Tommy didn't appear phased; "It brings me out in a rash every time", he ducked just in time to miss a flying cushion.

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Deep in Osirico's mountainous lair, the evil genius conspired in privacy with his loyal second-in-command. "I am concerned about my sons...I fear that they will do the same as they did before", he admitted, referring back to the never-forgotten time on their home planet when Moltor and Flurious had attempted to steal the Corona Aurora for evil purposes in their natural human forms, thereby cursing both them and their parents – turning them into the beasts they were today. "Those other Power Rangers they are facing get stronger everyday".

"My Lord, remember that once Moltor and Flurious seize the Corona Aurora, they will be invincible – it will be the beginning of a new era!" he slammed his fists together passionately; "It is not called the 'Dawn Crown' for nothing..."

"I agree, but what you do not know is that they have crossed me once...", Osirico replied; "But I forgave them; because the _curse_ changed them...they are _so_ different to what they were...they're not the sons I love".

Ammix was silent for a second before he answered; "What will you do my Lord?"

"It is simple...I will break the curse...but the only way I can do that is to break the people who made it happen! The humans here on Earth!", he growled loudly, his voice growing louder with each word.

Ammix smirked, an evil glint forming in his eyes, "An excellent idea my Lord", he hissed; "Where do we start?"

"Commander, Sir!" a voice echoed towards them as one of the army warriors strode into view.

Osirico snarled lowly at the intrusion; "Can you not see that we are busy?!", he rose from his seat at the head of the room, stating his authority.

"Forgive me my Lord Osirico", the creature bowed submissively; "But I have an idea...that will get rid of the Power Rangers that stand in your way".

"I'm listening", Osirico replied, that hint of a threat still evident in his voice as it echoed around the stony walls of the lair. "But destroying the Power Rangers is not an easy task..."

"Ah, but that is where my plan is different my Lord...I have no intention of _destroying_ the Power Rangers-..."

"Then what exactly _is_ your intention?" Osirico interrupted.

"Forgive me again but I couldn't help but overhear talks of a curse...", he looked to his superior for permission to continue, but Osirico merely stared straight back at him; "What if we made our own curse...what if we cursed the Power Rangers?"

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As 7pm approached and with the Cyberspace as clean and tidy as it could be under the circumstances, Adam, Tori, Xander and Kira could do nothing more and therefore shut off the lights and made their way out of the door, locking it even though there was a giant hole in one of the walls that any burglar could easily climb through...but then again...they wouldn't know about the extensive surveillance and intrusion systems that surrounded the place.

Piling into Tori's faithful camper van and with none of them having any plans for the night, the Rangers made their way to Valencia Drive; home to one Tommy Oliver. It came as no surprise when they finally walked through the door that Hayley was already on the phone to some form of building repair company and by the tone of the voices coming from their end, they weren't happy at being bothered at seven o'clock in the evening.

"Okay, yes...thankyou...bye", Hayley sighed as she hung up the phone.

"Good news?" Adam asked as he strode towards the kitchen.

"Kind of...i've got someone to come out on Monday".

"Monday? I take it they don't work weekends?"

"There's some guy coming to take measurements tomorrow, but they're fixing it Monday".

Adam nodded in understanding as he picked a nice cold can out of the refrigerator and made his way towards the lounge before slumping into the large comfy armchair. The Black Ranger grinned over at the rest of the team who were sat in what Xander had explained to be a 'Tori Sandwich' with the Ninja Ranger sat in the middle of one of the sofas, flanked by Xander and Kira on each side.

"So who's up for ordering Pizza?" Kira suggested as she waggled her phone at the others, trying to ignore the tickling contest that had now been started between the Blue and Green Rangers beside her.

"That sounds like heaven", Hayley replied eagerly as she slumped exhaustedly down next to Tommy.

"Xander, catch!", she tossed the phone at the Green Ranger, causing him to quit pursuing his current activity as he started dialing the number.

"Hi there, I was wondering if being a lovely lady, you could order me some pizza...", the rest of the room rolled their eyes at Xander, with it obviously being a female operator on the other end of the line. As he reeled off the order, his voice oozed with what he called 'Xander Charm'.

"...And the name's Xander", he grinned widely as he slipped that last sentence in.

"...I just thought maybe we could..."

"...Ah okay...but still, it would be fun?"

"...I'll give my number to the delivery guy, unless you want to come yourself?"

"...Look forward to seeing you, bye!" the Green Ranger finally hung up.

"So...did this 'Plan Xander' work?" Kira asked, already knowing the answer.

"Err..."

"She bailed on you, right?"

"Maybe...but i'm giving her my number!"

"Xander, I don't think she's interested buddy", Adam explained; "And i'm _starving_!"

"Hey, who said this place was a hotel?" Tommy piped up from his seat on the remaining sofa, his eyes never leaving the TV screen on the opposite wall.

"Aw, come on man, lighten up!" Adam retorted, "You owe us a few favors...after all, it was _you_ who named the Megazord".

"Why, what's wrong with 'Retroforce'?"

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"My existence is resting on your success", the plucky warrior that had dared to suggest a plan to his superiors now warned the creature he had enlisted to help him in his mission; "Make sure you do not fail!"

"Don't worry, I won't", with a final, confident word, the creature strode off purposefully, knowing that he wouldn't have to even go looking for the Rangers...as soon as people started screaming; _they_ would come looking for _him_.

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"Where's the fire?", Xander questioned a terrified civilian as he ran smack bang into the morphed Green Ranger. Calming slightly, the man just about managed to point to a large multi-storey car park at the end of the street. "Thanks", Xander swiftly rejoined the other Rangers as they tore towards the scene of the disturbance.

"Hey you!"

"Stop!"

The minion halted in his tracks as the Rangers finally arrived and he calmly turned to face them.

"Something tells me that you're not welcome here!" Adam pointed an accusing finger.

"Says who? The little voices in your head?" he mocked.

"No, says us!"

"Mighty Morphin', Ranger Power!"

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Power!"

"Dino Thunder, Ranger Power!"

"Mystic Force, Ranger Power!"

"Bravo, bravo!" the creature clapped sarcastically as the Rangers posed; "Now...it's my turn", he locked eyes with Xander through his helmet as he fingered a small device at his side; "I presume, _Mystic Ranger..._that you are familiar with _this_ sort of magic!" and without warning, the monster hurled the device direct towards the Rangers whilst uttering some sort of incantation.

"Finishio!" Xander stretched out his hand towards the object.

"Dereus Malorium!" the creature rapidly countered his move, causing the device to continue on its journey and spill its contents right over the Rangers.

They flapped their hands in front of their faces in an attempt to prevent the cursed gas from reaching them; much to the amusement of their foe, but it was too late, as they all slumped to the ground, unconscious and demorphed.

The creature smirked with an air of evil triumph; "Perfect!"

"You'd better have some good news for me", the teleported figure of the monster's accomplice appeared beside him as his eyes rested on the silent Rangers; "Ah, a _very_ pleasing sight".

The creature nodded; "All we have to do now is-..." he looked over as Kira's hand moved slightly; "...Wait", he finished; "I spoke too soon". Not long after, the heroes were just about staggering to their feet as they looked around in slight confusion.

"What the hell just happened?", Tori tapped a hand to the side of her head.

"I don't know...", Adam squinted as if he was short-sighted in an attempt to properly refocus his eyes.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Xander shrieked loudly, pointing to something over their shoulders.

"What? What is it?", Kira bent her head around to see behind Adam and Tori, but soon wished she hadn't as she mimicked Xander's scream. The Black and Blue Rangers also turned, eying up the source of their fear.

"Oh...my...God!", Adam stuttered, taking long steps backwards, his eyes never leaving the creature before him.

"I'm outta here", Tori turned swiftly on her heel before Ninja Streaking away to safety.

The same creature that the Rangers had confronted moments before now stood calmly in front of the remaining Rangers, merely leering at them. "I'm with her", Xander nervously added as he called on his Racer and fled the scene.

"Let's go", Adam yanked on Kira's arm dragging her away at a running pace towards the nearest shelter.

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"What?" Tommy, who had just begun his observation of the short confrontation from the Dino Lair now looked baffled; "Why are they running away?" this statement caused Hayley's curious stare to gaze over Tommy's shoulder as she too watched the Rangers visibly retreat.

"Adam, come in", the former Black Ranger ordered down the intercom.

"_Yeah, what's up?"_, Adam's voice had a definite hint of fear to it.

"What are you doing?", he asked bluntly; "You do know you're supposed to _fight_ the monster, right?"

"_Fight? That thing?"_, Adam laughed nervously; _"You have got to be kidding me?"_

"_Yeah, no-one's stupid to try that!"_, Kira butted in.

"Play back the surveillance tape", said Hayley suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Play back the surveillance tape", she repeated; "I think you might have missed something", she added, noting the more than odd behavior of the Rangers.

Tommy complied and tapped a few keys to take the video footage back by ten minutes, when it all became much clearer...

"See?" Hayley stated, a knowing look on her face.

"So whatever was in that device was activated by the freak-show and ended up cursing the Rangers to make them-...more...cowardly?"

Hayley nodded; "At least, that's what _I_ think".

"Rangers?", Tommy called down the intercom once more; "Get back the the Lair as soon as you can".

"We're already here", a voice behind him made him jump as Adam's feet appeared at the top of the stairs, closely followed by the others.

"Okay, now listen, you've all been cursed-..."

"Yeah, sure, I don't think that's a good explanation for why we won't fight _that_", Tori pointed to the creature that was still onscreen.

"I'm with Tori", Xander folded his arms defiantly.

"Reestablishing your connection to the Morphing Grid should, in theory, have the power to break the curse, seeing the the energy needed to transform is much greater than the energy you have when morphed".

Five faces locked on Hayley with equally high levels of confusion; "Excuse me?"

Hayley rolled her eyes at their failure to understand and therefore 'translated' for them; "Morphing should break the curse".

"Well, there's only one way to find out", Tommy nodded meaningfully at the Rangers.

"Oh no...no way", Kira flatly refused the request.

"We already told you – we're NOT fighting that thing", Adam agreed.

"We're not going to make you fight", Tommy sighed, still trying to regain their trust.

"Oh yeah..._sure_".

"Fine...but i'm going to hold that guy off", Tommy rose from his chair and was soon roaring out of the drive in his trusty jeep.

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"How about you just say the words?" Hayley suggested.

"What do you mean?", Adam asked suspiciously.

"Just say the words...", she continued; "They might be enough to break the curse alone", she lied.

"Are you sure?"

"You're not kidding us?"

"Nope", she lied again.

"I'm game", Adam shrugged as Hayley discreetly brought up a new screen on the computer systems, her finger hovering over a button on the keyboard.

The Rangers all nodded their consent if not reluctantly as they stood at the ready, yet keeping their morphers firmly out of sight.

"Ready?", Adam asked, feeling slightly stupid without his morpher in hand, not noticing the small smirk on Hayley's face.

"Ready".

"It's Morphin' Time!"

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!"

"Magical Source, Mystic Force!"

"Dino Thunder, Power Up!"

Hayley quickly slammed her finger down over the selected button and to the Rangers' and Tommy's surprise, the morphing sequence swiftly began and seconds later, the Rangers were fully morphed.

"You tricked us!", were the first words uttered by Xander as he pointed the accusing finger.

Hayley said nothing but merely pointed to the monster onscreen that was fighting the legendary Tommy Oliver; "He needs your help", she said meaningfully, hoping that her idea had worked.

"What are we waiting for?" Hayley breathed a sigh of relief – her manual activation of the morphers had paid off and she opened the door to the vehicles and the Rangers sped off.

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"Give it up freakazoid", Tommy threatened as he stood facing the monster, his trademark defensive stance prominent.

"Ha! You might have been a Power Ranger, but not anymore!" the creature drew a blaster from its side and aimed it square at Tommy's chest; "Say goodbye!"

Tommy heard the laser fire, yet didn't see the blasts coming towards him...instead, his adversary staggered backwards, his armor dented and smoking.

"Not on our watch!"

The monster roared loudly as he remember the words uttered to him earlier by his accomplice _'"My existence is resting on your success"'. _"How did you break my curse?!"

"Here's a tip for next time – use a stronger one", although Xander's eyes weren't visible through his helmet, he gave a cheeky wink.

"Now we'll show you some real firepower!" Adam raised his Blade Blaster, the rest of the team following suit.

"Combine your firepower", Tommy advised from the sidelines.

"You got it...Quattro Blast!" the Rangers simultaneously fired and the individual blasts swirled together to form a giant golden ball of energy that surged straight at the monster, completely obliterating all his defenses and blowing the creature into a thousand tiny pieces.

"Job done!"

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"I hope you remember the conditions on which this plan went ahead...", Osirico's eyes lit with an angry fire as he strode towards the now cowering monster.

"Please My Lord, give me another chance!"

"I gave you the options...you took the wrong one! _Nobody_ fails me!"

"But My Lord, what about him?" he dared to point out towards Ammix who growled menacingly, making to move towards him; "He has failed in his plans many times".

"No...", Osirico held out a commanding hand that stopped the humanoid serpent in his tracks; "Ammix is my most loyal servant...his faults can be forgiven at times". His criticism quickly swept aside, the monster reverted to his cowering as his fate was delivered.

Osirico balled a fist to seemingly conjure a ball of flames in his palm, which he thrust straight into the creature's chest, immediately vaporising him. "Let this be a warning to anyone else who fails me!"

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**As some of you probably noticed, i've added a few of my own things into this chapter; including the roll call and the 'Quattro Blast'. Hope you all liked it and i'll see ya next chapter! :D**


	12. Muddled Up

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_AN: This chapter's a bit short I know, but I sorta needed a couple of 'filler' episodes before the next storyline starts ;) Hope you enjoy!_

_**Chapter 11: Muddled Up**_

* * *

"I wonder why Osirico didn't do the whole 'make my monster grow' thing with that last freak?" Adam pondered out loud.

"'Cause he saw how awesome our Megazord was last time?", Xander offered helpfully. "Hey...", the questioning had suddenly sparked a thought somewhere in Xander's brain; "Has anyone tried to use their power-ups yet?"

"What?", the idea hadn't even occurred to Adam.

"Seriously...have you?"

"Well, no...seeing that the Sentinel Knight told us that we'd have to re-earn our powered up modes..."

"What?"

"Xander, did you actually listen to anything the Sentinel Knight said?", Tori asked bluntly.

"Sure I did, some of the time".

"Well, apparently we need to re-earn them as a sort of compromise for getting our powers back in the first place".

"What a load of-..."

"Anyway!", Tori said loudly, covering up the end of Xander's sentence; "I'm sure we'll know when we get them...well...when you get them anyway – I haven't got one".

"You're right, they'll come when we need them".

"What's with the random conversation guys?", Tommy asked as he sat back down at one of the consoles.

"Bored", Xander shrugged; "Can't Osirico just give us a level 1 monster – something _fun_".

"Fun?" Tommy raised a quizzical eyebrow and looked around the group; "You're mental", he concluded.

"Xander?", Hayley wheeled around in her chair to face him; "Next time, be careful what you wish for".

"What do you mean?", the Green Ranger followed Hayley's outstretched finger to the surveillance screen; "Oh".

"We've got a giant lump of mud attacking the city", she pointed out.

The Rangers watched on, each with a bemused expression on their faces; "Okay, when I said 'fun', I didn't mean it like that..."

"Come on". Tori yanked him by the arm and virtually dragged him out of the lair behind the rest of the team.

* * *

"That is..." Adam began as the Rangers bikes slowed to a halt.

"Disgusting?" Xander offered as he touched down next to the others.

"Yeah, something like that", Adam casually brushed down his suit as the team approached the mud monster. "So what do they call you then?" he shouted, instantly grabbing the creature's attention.

"_What do they call me?"_, the mud-glob repeated; "Where I come from, names are not needed...we go by reputation". The almost liquid-like face contorted into a lop-sided smirk; "But you...the Power Rangers...i've heard a lot about you. Let's see how much of it is true!"

"Oh that's not good!" the Rangers looked between each other as the creature seemed to 'slump' into a more streamlined form, his dark brown, liquid body flowing like water towards the group in a continuous river.

The spandex-clad heroes looked ridiculous as they ran to avoid the fast approaching creature. To make matters worse, the thing had now sprouted 'tendrils' of sorts and the muddy liquid branched out into four so it could take on each Ranger simultaneously.

"Great", Kira muttered to herself as she backed sharply against an innocently parked car. Quickly ducking out of sight, she just managed to avoid the creature as it snaked towards her, yet she found herself once again pressed against the hood of another car. Sighing, the Yellow Ranger flipped onto the roof...safely out of the way until they thought of some way to defeat this bizarre monster...or safe so she thought.

A loud cackle came from her right and Kira looked to see the creature 'climbing' its way up the window, as an instinctive reaction she hurriedly leapt back down to ground level but the monster was a step ahead of her as it shot out a long twisted tendrils of viscous muddy liquid and wrapped it firmly around Kira's ankle.

The Yellow Ranger crashed into the concrete floor as a result and was too late to react when the snaking liquid crawled up around her suit. Attempting to right herself however proved futile as Kira found herself pinned to the floor by the mud, unable to move.

"Kira!" Xander ran to the Yellow Ranger's aid, but failed to see the river that had surrounded him before it was too late. Only inches from Kira, he struggled with all his might as the muddy liquid snaked up his legs, around his waist and all the way up to the top of his shoulders, clamping him in place.

"Hang on Xander!", Tori had already unsheathed her Ninja Sword, although what she was going to do with it she wasn't sure as she darted over the river of mud that had been chasing her and headed towards the struggling Rangers, her pursuer still not giving up the chase. Holding up the sword, she figured it was worth the try as she slashed at the liquid binds that held Xander in place, yet to no effect, the blade was simply absorbed by the mud.

"Look out!" Both Xander and Kira yelled out as the creature mentioned grew rapidly back into its vaguely humanoid form behind Tori.

The Blue Ranger deftly swapped the Ninja Sword for the Sonic Fin and aimed quickly, firing off a pulsating ball of energy towards the monster. Unfortunately, the blast passed through a conveniently-made hole in the towering wall of mud and the creature cackled; "You're next!" and Tori could do no more as the wall came crashing down, enshrouding her in a muddy prison.

"I guess it's up to me then..." Adam muttered as he still danced around the car park, careful not to get himself cornered or forced against any of the various cars and concrete pillars.

Rolling sideways, the click stream of muck narrowly missed his feet; "You can run...but you can't hide!" the creature gurgled as it surged towards him.

"Ah...Tommy, a little help?" the Black Ranger called hopefully into his morpher as he barreled down the ramp that led to the ground floor., hotly pursued by the mud monster.

"_Sorry man, I don't know what we can do..." _Tommy thought as hard as he could under the circumstances and conferred with Hayley who was sat beside him.

Adam finally broke free of the car park and ran out into the street where the sun was shining merrily down upon him.

"_Wait...this thing's fully liquid, right?"_

"Yeah..." Adam replied slowly as he ducked out of sight just as the creature surged out of the car park; "So?"

"_Well.. couldn't you trap it or something? Y'know in a box, anything watertight?"_

"I guess so...aw crap!" Adam flung his body left just in time to avoid entrapment, he glanced at the creature and noticed the drain it slithered past, where a small part of the muddy monster dropped down the grate.

Grinning to himself in satisfaction, Adam pulled out his Power Axe; "I've got a better idea!" Leaping high into the air, the Black Ranger was headed right for the center of the monster's flowing mass, but that wasn't what he was aiming for as he he brought the axe crashing down.

As predicted, the creature parted it's liquid body slightly to avoid the hit, but the hard ground beneath it wasn't so lucky as several meters of concrete cracked wide open, the chasm beneath beckoning. As realization dawned, the monster attempted to squirm away from its doom, but it was helpless as its muddy body flowed freely down into the opening; "No! You...how dare you?! Help me!"

"'Fraid not". Adam stood back as the last drop fell but was then faced with a new problem of the huge, gaping chasm he had left in the middle of the street.

"Finishio!"

Adam turned at the sound of the voice to see Xander stood there, Mystic Morpher outstretched and dripping mud onto the ground from every part of his body yet his classic smile was ever present.

"Problem solved!" the Green Ranger grinned as he shook the filth from his hair, hi-fiving Adam in the process and just as Tori and Kira appeared also, both in pretty much the same state as Xander. Tori's usually vivid blonde hair was now closer to chocolate brown and Kira looked like she now had a funny kind of dreadlocks. Adam couldn't help but snort with laughter as he demorphed as if to point out even more that he was the only one of the group that was actually clean.

* * *

Walking back through the heart of the town's park, the Rangers received more than their fair share of glances, ranging from disapproving to outright amused as they trudged home.

"Look at the state of me, I so need a shower-...Ahhh!" Tori grumbled out loud and then, before she knew it, she found herself crashing down into the water that was part of the large fountain in the center of the park.

Spluttering the water out of her mouth, Tori wasted no time in turning her accusing glare to Xander, who in turn quickly pointed straight at Adam.

"Hey, don't look at me", the Black Ranger in question held up his hands defensively.

Xander stifled a small laugh as the Blue Ranger's eyebrow quirked in his direction; "What? You _did_ say you needed a shower..." he gestured to the water surrounding her that was now turning a delightful shade of brown. "Oh no...no you don't...", Xander backed away slowly as Tori's hand shot towards him, but no sooner had he said it, he had been forced to join her in the fountain.

"In that case, we'll leave you guys to it", Adam and Kira walked away, both laughing, to leave the Blue and Green Rangers clambering out of the fountain, both dripping wet through.

"When I said 'a shower', I didn't mean that kind", Tori grinned lightheartedly at her friend as she pointed out her bedraggled state.

Xander merely smiled his trademark smile and winked; "Still cute though".


	13. The Great Freeze: Pt 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_**Chapter 13 – Part 1: The Great Freeze**_

* * *

"I shall send a warrior into the city My Lord", Ammix bowed and turned on his heel, intent on seeing through his promise.

"No", Osirico held up a commanding hand to stop Ammix in his tracks; "I will do it myself this time". The serpentine Commander lifted a quizzical eyebrow at his master's suggestion, yet didn't dare to question his motives. "Fetch me a..._cold_...creature".

* * *

"Here we go again", Hayley sighed as she abandoned her latest system upgrade and contacted each of the Rangers' morphers.

"Guys? We've got trouble", she waited until each of the Rangers had acknowledged their receipt of the message; "Get yourselves down to the Harbor".

* * *

"I don't believe this", Tori cursed her luck from where she sat on her surfboard halfway out to sea. Taking one last, longing look at the huge swells that were forming nearby she caught the final one and rapidly made the return journey back to the beach. Quickly toweling off, she strapped her board to the roof of her van and gunned the engine.

Not far away, Adam and Xander were heaving several of Kira's large speakers through the back door of the Cyberspace as their morphers rang out and Hayley's voice drifted towards them.

"Did you guys hear that?" Kira's head poked around the corner towards the guys.

"Yep, we're all over it", the Black and Green Rangers set down the heavy speakers before joining Kira in dashing out the way they had come in.

* * *

"We're in for a _chilling_ time!" the monster stretched a mottled, blue hand into the air and as if by magic, everything froze...the screaming civilians were suddenly silent as their bodies were encased in a thick layer of ice, the river that led to the sea froze over...as did the ocean itself and everything else within a large radius.

Skidding slightly on the glazed over ground, an unmorphed Tori was the first on scene, her hair still dripping wet from the waves, yet she wasted no time in summoning her ninja powers, sending a torrent of water towards the monster.

"Not today!" the creature thrust his hands forwards as he somehow not only repelled the water, but managed to send it flying back in the Blue Ranger's direction, completely drenching her. "I hope you like it cold!", he sneered before using his freezing powers, rapidly encasing Tori in a giant ice-cube.

"Hey! Let her go!"

The yell came from Xander as the remaining Rangers ran, still unmorphed, onto the scene.

"Erm...how about no?" the creature mocked, rather proud of his achievement.

"We'll do it the hard way then!" Adam retorted, reaching for his morpher; "Ready?"

"Ready!", Xander and Kira echoed.

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP, HA!"

They managed to morph in the nick of time to avoid a vast number of ice shards that the creature had thrown in their direction. The Rangers rolled to the side before leaping to attack, one after the other.

Xander swung a fast-moving fist at the monster, but he caught his hand with relative ease before throwing it roughly backwards. Adam and Kira then followed up, in an attempt to double team, Adam went for the creature's torso whilst Kira aimed for his legs. However, the villain managed to grab onto both of Adam's arms and he twisted them painfully behind his back, holding on tight. He then proceeded to leap high into the air, with Adam still in tow, therefore rendering Kira's attacks useless before slamming the Black Ranger back into the ground and flipping his yellow-clad teammate into a nearby wall.

"_Guys, you need to get Tori back to the lab before that thing does more damage". _Tommy's voice filtered through the morphers towards the Rangers; _"We can regroup later"_.

"It's cool Tommy, we've got this", Adam swiftly replied as he picked himself up, stealing a glance towards the ice-cube that was the Blue Ranger.

"_You're not listening to-..."_

"Yeah...we can take this guy", Xander interrupted, joining with Adam and Kira before pulling out his morpher and punching in the numbers 1 and 0, respectively; "Mystic Muscles!"

The beefed-up Green Ranger flung a fist the size of a small boulder towards the monster, but as before, it was caught without too much trouble; "What?" Xander wore a highly surprised expression under his visor, yet he pursued, throwing another series of punches before finishing off with a sneaky roundhouse...all of them blocked.

"Surprised?", the creature leered as it drew nearer, no longer looking like a pushover. "Hornets!" The evil footsoldiers appeared obediently, waiting for their next order. "You three...", he pointed at the chosen ones; "Stay here. The rest of you...attack!"

"You'd think they'd have realized by now that we smash up these guys in our sleep...", Xander commented cockily as his flexed his enhanced biceps.

"Let's go kick some butt!" the trio charged forwards, swatting aside the inferior creatures like annoying flies. The footsoldiers that Xander hadn't already pummeled into the ground, Adam and Kira had no trouble in sending to their fates.

However, the over-confident team moral had given the monster _exactly_ the distraction he needed as he wordlessly signaled for the three 'chosen' Hornets that had held back from the fray to set to work.

"Come on you airheads!" Adam beckoned mockingly as he drove his heel into the head of one of the creatures whilst spinning to kick the one that approached from behind. Xander and Kira were at a similar position as they easily disposed of their enemies. Having finally defeated all the footsoldiers, the trio turned back to face their main rival.

"Well, I thank you for your company but I really must be going", the monster bowed mockingly before turning away on his heel; "Oh, and by the way...", his head flicked back towards them casually, nodding at something behind them. The Rangers followed his gaze in horror to see the frozen Tori disappearing in a flash of jet-black lightning, courtesy of the remaining Hornets; "...Thank you for the parting gift", and he disappeared.

"Tori!" The Rangers were powerless to help and they were left, alone, on the Harbor.

* * *

"So...", Tommy raised his eyebrows in expectation, knowing that there would have to be a phenomenally good explanation for why only three of the Ranger team stood before him.

As for the Rangers in question, they all wore a guilty look on their faces, reminiscent of school kids that were facing detention. Even though the team didn't need a mentor as such, there was still the necessity for someone to keep them in check...Tommy, for example.

"Sorry man, that's what I get for being stubborn", Adam apologized.

"Yeah, we should have listened to you guys", Xander added.

"It doesn't matter...what's done is done and now we need to refocus our priorities".

"Getting Tori back", Kira stated knowingly.

"Exactly. Now do you have _any_ idea where they might have taken her?"

"Well, the obvious answer would be back to wherever Osirico and his goons hang out or at least somewhere close to there".

"Naturally...alright...I suggest that you all get back out there; we have no idea what they're up to and i'd hate to find out the hard way.

Xander raised his hand; "Does no-one else see the massive problem here?", he butted in, only to be greeted by a sea of blank faces; "Maybe that we have absolutely _no idea_ where this freak's lair is".

"Ah".

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_

* * *

**Thanks to all you nice people who've left me a review, i'm glad to see that the story's going down well with you all :)**

**Standby for Part 2...**


	14. The Great Freeze: Pt 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_**Chapter 14 – Part 2**__**: The Great Freeze**_

* * *

"Oh great", Tommy slumped backwards into his chair, running a stressed hand through his black hair. "Okay, Hayley, could you track the signal on Tori's morpher?"

"I can _try_", Hayley replied as her head drew back from the computer screen and tilted towards him slightly; "But there's no promises it'll work under such cold conditions, either that, or she's too far away for the signal to reach us".

"Well, I guess it's a start", Tommy sighed as Hayley turned back and her lightning-fast fingers worked their magic across the enhanced keyboard.

"In the meantime, you should-..." the Doctor's words were promptly drowned out by the blaring of the alarms. Naturally, Hayley brought up the surveillance cameras that had reported the disturbance and a familiar face was visible onscreen and Tommy didn't look surprised; "...Do what you do best".

The trio grinned right back at him before standing at the ready, their confidence visibly restored.

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP, HA!"

* * *

"It's nice to see you again so soon!", the creature from earlier that had succeeded in completely freezing all the water in sight and as an encore, had frozen and kidnapped their Blue Ranger was once again stood before the team.

"I'm afraid the same doesn't go for you", Adam looked unimpressed with the monster's attempt at wit.

"Now what have you done with Tori?" Xander pointed an accusing, gloved finger.

"It's funny you should mention your friend...", the creature absent-mindedly stroked the blade of the sword at his side that was also, seemingly made of ice. "Hornets!" The dumb footsoldiers appeared obediently at his side, skidding slightly on the ice; "Destroy this worthless town!"

"I don't think so!", the Rangers turned, about to hunt down the Hornets before a voice interrupted them.

"Ah, Rangers?" The group swiftly faced the monster again, impatience written in their body language. "I have a dilemma for you..."

"Well I suggest that you get on with it because we haven't exactly got all day to argue", Kira jerked a thumb at the rampaging footsoldiers.

"_I found Tori!" _Hayley's voice loudly interrupted through each of the morphers, not escaping the ears of the monster and surprisingly, it smirked at the news, as if it was expected.

"Fantastic!" The Rangers grinned at each other through their helmets; "Looks like you've played your last card buddy".

"Oh, but I haven't...", the creature swiftly called on a new hoard of Hornets to join their comrades in destroying Reefside; "Now then...do you save the city?" he gestured to the carnage and screaming civilians that surrounded them; "Or do you save your friend?" the monster leant back against a wall smugly; "It's your choice".

For a moment, all the Rangers could do was flit their eyes back and forth between each other and Hayley's voice rattled through to them again; "Guys? Didn't you hear me? I found-..."

"Yeah, yeah we read you..." Adam quickly replied; "Okay, think you guys can clear up here?" he gestured between Xander, Kira and the enemies.

"You know it!"

"Great. Hayley? Just show me the way". Adam sped off on his ever-sleek Shark Cycle in search of his teammate.

"And as for these guys..." Xander flicked a wrist at the Hornets before nodding at Kira.

"They're toast!" Kira joined him in the charge, also briefly wondering why the monster hadn't either chased after Adam or tried to stop herself and the Green Ranger.

Drawing her Ptera Grips, the Yellow Ranger leapt into action, suddenly realizing just how many Hornets they were up against. Nevertheless, she rammed her weapons into the chest of the nearest victim with the appropriate level of energy before executing the perfect tornado kick into another.

Xander however, decided on a slightly more _forceful _approach as he called on his favored giant boxing gloves. "Mystic Force Fighters!" With a small war cry, the Green Ranger pummeled two Hornets into the hard concrete of the ground simultaneously, blowing both to smithereens.

As the sound of many footsteps fast approached, Xander whirled around, yet was too late in putting his plan into effect as several footsoldiers roughly grabbed hold of his hands. "Hey! Get off me!" The Green Ranger struggled against his captors, but the power of numbers was too strong and they finally wrestled him to the ground. "Kira! A little help?"

"Sorry, i'm a bit busy at the minute!" came the reply through gritted teeth as Kira was met with a similar situation to her teammate, her Ptera Grips lost somewhere in the fray.

"Just as planned", the monster observed as he coolly observed from a safe distance.

Xander just about managed to push himself to his feet but no sooner had he done did he receive a harsh foot in his stomach, sending his hurtling painfully backwards. The Hornets drew their lethal-looking daggers as he once again attempted to right himself, and mercilessly fired a projection of laser fire at the Green Ranger. It was the final straw for Xander as he was catapulted high into the air, sparks and the odd burst of smoke flying from his suit as he finally thudded hard back into the ground.

Clutching his beaten chest, Xander looked over just in time to see his Yellow counterpart slashed several times with the same daggers and she crashed down beside him. "I...refuse...to...be...beaten...by...Hornets!" Xander growled as he staggered somewhat before standing on his shaky feet. Balling his fists in defiance, the Green Ranger's energy level seemed to rocket skywards as he felt a familiar surge of power. The Hornets watched on, probably more in dumb curiosity than intelligent surveillance as he slowly reached for his morpher before flipping it open purposefully...

"LEGENDARY SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

_1...2...0...Galwit Mysto Neramax!_

"Element of Earth, Green Legend Warrior!" The newly-transformed Xander stood proudly, having rightly earned back his highest level of power.

At this point, the monster's interest shot through the roof and his eyes widened; "What?!"

"Can't leave me out!" a determined Kira slowly stood up beside her empowered teammate. Holding her arms in an 'X' across her chest, she uttered the infamous words...

"SUPER DINO MODE!"

* * *

Tori Hanson's eyes were open. Despite being encased in a block of ice several meters thick, she was still conscious...That would probably be down to her affinity for her element.

Her unblinking eyes stared ahead, completely motionless; paralyzed just like the rest of her body. She could see and hear to a certain extent but that was about it, aside from that, she was ridiculously numb, the almost unbearable biting pain from the cold flooding over her body as if invisible needles were being constantly jabbed into her skin.

The more she thought about her predicament, the more panicky she became as old memories floated to the front of her mind, memories she would rather forget.

_A seven-year old Tori clung to her father's arm as they slowly stepped onto the ice, balancing themselves before standing fully upright._

_It was a beautiful winter's day; the Hanson family were spending a few days visiting friends in the northern part of the country. A fresh, thick layer of glistening snow had fallen during the night and the temperature had fallen so low that the small lake in the middle of a nearby park had frozen over completely._

_The young Tori slowly let go of her dad as she found her feet, the skates attached to them threatening to slide away. She attempted to mimic her father as he pushed himself off, gliding effortlessly to her side, yet she fell straight over._

"_Ready?" her dad gripped her by the arm and stood by her side; "Move your feet like this...", he demonstrated on the spot and made his daughter copy his moves until she was confident enough; "Okay, now try it for real". He released his hold and ushered Tori forwards, her feet nervously remembering what he had taught her._

_She stumbled a few times, but nevertheless got back up and started again and before she knew it, young Tori was ice-skating. "Look dad!", she positively beamed as she swept towards him; "I can do it!"_

"_That's great! Keep it going!", he grinned back towards her._

_The future Blue Ninja Ranger however, was straying, she was too proud of her achievement to be taking any real notice of where she was going as she came to a stuttering halt under the shadow of a large willowing tree, the branches hanging over the lake._

_The ice was clearly thinner here, the tree protecting it from the cold air that had flared during the night. Tori heard the creak of the thin ice as it slowly cracked under her weight; "Dad, what was that noise?"_

"_Come back over here Tori, I don't want you going too far away"._

_Crack! Louder this time as the fissure line spread under her feet producing many smaller ones along the way and liquid water began to seep through..._

_The ice gave way._

"_Dad!"_

"_Tori!", the older man raced towards his daughter as she plunged into the freezing water, several people not too far away turning at the sound of commotion._

"_Dad...h-help!" Tori finally surfaced, spluttering out the freezing liquid that she had gulped in, barely able to move her limbs, the skates and her sodden clothes weighing her down even more._

"_I'm here, grab my hand!" her father stretched out as far as he possibly could._

"_C-can't...r-r-reach!" she was almost paralyzed by the cold now as her head slowly dipped back under the water._

"_Hang on! Don't go under!" her father yelled just as another man appeared at his side, a stranger, wanting to help._

"_Kick your legs!" the man coaxed her._

_Tori floundered wildly, attempting to move her feet, with the heavy skates still attached, yet she moved towards them ever so slightly._

"_That's it...pretend you're in the sea with your dad...swim towards him"._

_Tori kicked with all her might, getting her just within touching distance as her fathers hand reached out to her; "That's great, just a little further...", his hand clamped around her arm and he wasted no time in yanking her clear out of the water._

_Tori felt herself lifted as she finally fell down on top of her dad, unable to speak as she shivered uncontrollably, the icy water dripping from her, unbearably cold._

_Her father sighed with relief as he held her tight, profusely thanking the man that had come to help. He rid his daughter of her sodden jacket and shed his own before wrapping it tight around her. "It's okay now, you're safe" Tori merely nodded into his chest and hugged him hard as he carried her back onto solid ground._

So for pretty much the rest of her childhood, Tori had been afraid of the water, the ice, the dreaded cold that came with it…

…Until one day sat on the beach, having a nice picnic with her two closest friends from school when she was about fifteen. She had been enthralled by two older men who had brought their boards with them and had expertly surfed the biggest waves out there. They commanded the water expertly, knowing exactly what they were doing and that was when Tori realized that she didn't want to be afraid anymore…

Little did she know, in just a couple of months time, she would be chosen, along with the guys by her side, to be enrolled in a secret Ninja Academy where she would learn to command the element that she had feared the most and become an expert in her own right, finally earning the title of 'Wind Power Ranger'.

* * *

"_There you go, a hundred yards on your right and you should be there"._

"Thanks Hayley".

"_No problem"._

The Shark Cycle pushed forwards, skidding slightly on the thick ice, but remaining upright. "Gotcha!" The morpher's signal had led Adam to a random patch of wasteland where nothing much grew except the odd weed and several long-abandoned buildings littered the area. Slap bang in the middle of the ground stood what looked like a huge ice-cube, yet Adam could see the faint, yet unmistakable outline within.

The Black Ranger began to dismount his bike, but no sooner had he done so did no less than fifty Hornets appear in front of his eyes and immediately charge towards him. "Uh huh…", he looked less than impressed with their ambush tactics but nevertheless, Adam swung his leg back over the Shark Cycle and hit the throttle, kicking up a whirlwind of dust behind him as he shot forward once more.

The Hornets dutifully scrabbled to grab a hold on him as the bike whizzed through them, their hotter-than-should-be-normal hands tugging at Adam's arm yet he yanked it firmly out of reach; "I don't think so!", suddenly slamming on the brakes, Adam leant forwards, the bike following suit as the back end came clean off the ground. The Black Ranger twisted the machine sharply and several of the footsoldiers got in the way of the back wheel as it crashed into their upper bodies. "Anyone else?" Adam taunted as he revved the engine threateningly, now back on two wheels.

Of course, the Hornets obliged and ran at him once again; however, there was no messing around this time from Adam as he forced the Shark Cycle to leap high into the air, just as he drew his Blade Blaster. The laser fire pelted downwards from both the weapons system integrated into the bike and the blaster in Adam's hand as the Hornets all fell quite rapidly to the ground.

Grinning with triumph Adam dismounted once more and strode over to his captured teammate…

"Not so fast!"

"Aw man…" it was like déjà vu as yet another huge group of footsoldiers miraculously appeared as a barrier in front of him; protecting their prize. "_That_ is it…" Adam could feel his breath quicken in his throat as he struggled to contain the ferocious energy he held in…

"METALLIC ARMOR, POWER UP!"

And just like back in his glorious days as a Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger, Adam was transformed into what he described as his 'kick-ass' mode.

"Ha!" he barreled forwards, his now iron-like fist slamming the first group of Hornets into oblivion with a single strike. He then used the burst of super-speed that came with the power-up to appear in front of two of the enemy before flipping them both onto their backs.

The remaining creatures now stood in an arc before Adam, taunting him with their daggers. The Black Ranger drew his Power Axe, which now shimmered like his suit before flinging it expertly towards them…it curled and flipped over in the air but not before it struck every single one of the Hornets down. Adam swiftly caught his weapon and it came full circle and surveyed the carnage with a hint of smugness; "And _that's _how it's done!"

Axe still drawn, he ran over to the giant ice cube and hammered on its surface; "Tori?! It's me, I'm getting you out of here!", he yelled, hoping she could hear him.

Inside the frozen block, Tori wanted to shout back, the relief would've been evident in her voice had she actually been able to speak…it was _so_ cold now, almost unbearably so.

Meanwhile, Adam held the Axe high above his head before smashing it down onto the ice.

THUD.

"What?!" he looked disbelievingly between his blade and the surface and realized that he hadn't even chipped it. Trying again, he swung with all his might, yet the same result prevailed. Looking skywards however, he also noticed that despite the literally 'freezing' conditions, the sun was still blaring brightly yet the ice wasn't even close to melting.

"Err Tommy? Think I hit a bit of a problem…" he called down into his morpher, hoping to get a reasonable explanation from his friend back at the Lair.

"_I gathered…I'm watching you right now from the camera links"_, came the reply. _"Y'know…it's probably gonna be the same old story…"_

"What do you mean?"

"_The whole 'spells-can-only-be-broken-when-monster-is-destroyed' trick?"_

"Ah…great", Adam shot a wistful look back at the still-trapped Tori; "Looks like we've got a monster to destroy…"

* * *

"Whoa!" Adam rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by several hundred pounds of Osirico's monster. He looked up to see the creature crash into a wall and then towards his teammates and their power-ups…

"Now _that's_ what I'm talking about!" he let out a small laugh in triumph; "Check you guys out!"

"Not looking so bad yourself…", Xander pointed out; "You're all…" he waved his finger at Adam's suit trying to find the word.

"Shiny?" Kira offered.

"Yeah, 'shiny'".

"I thought you went to save Tori?" Kira pointed out.

"Yeah, good point, where is she?"

"We've gotta kick this guy back to the Stone Age before we can free her", Adam explained.

"No problemo!" the trio turned back to the subject of their conversation; "It's time to say goodbye!"

"Metallic Armor, Ranger Power!"

"Legend Warrior, Ranger Power!"

"Super Dino, Ranger Power!"

"Bring it!" the monster tensed up, ready for the fight.

"With pleasure!" Kira was first to attack as she swooped towards him, her wings outstretched, the Ptera Grips slicing through his armor like a hot knife through butter.

The monster howled in pain, clearly not liking the advantages of power-ups…

"Code one!", Xander flicked to a number on his Lion Staff and swung the weapon in a wide circle before him; "Rock slide!" he thrust the Staff towards the monster and a barrage of large and unfriendly boulders hurtled towards him, crashing down on their target. The monster yelled out as he finally crawled free of the rubble.

"Power Axe, full power!" Adam leapt over the shoulders of Xander, his weapon shimmering in the same fashion as his suit as it slammed into the creature's chest plate causing an instantaneous combustion process as the monster smoked and sparked before bursting into flames and rapidly turning into a pile of ash.

"I think…that just about got him", Adam commented sarcastically as he resheathed the Power Axe.

"Maybe just a little", Kira grinned back at him.

* * *

"It worked! It's melting", Adam shouted as soon as the giant ice cube came into sight and sure enough, he could see a glistening trail of water running steadily away from it.

"Allow me…", Xander strode forwards and swung his axe into the structure. A giant crack formed when then split into smaller fractures and then all of a sudden, the ice broke…

The large shards smashed into the ground and more water poured out, followed by Tori. "Gotcha!" Xander reached out and caught her before she fell, the Blue Ranger as cold as…well…ice. "Power down!" Xander reverted to his civilian form as he held on tight to Tori.

The Blue Ranger's eyes stared straight ahead, held open by the cold as she shivered uncontrollably, soaking wet through and barely able to stutter her thanks; "H-h-h-h-hi…g-g-guy-s…"

"You OK?" Xander asked as he hugged her tight in an attempt to warm her up.

"I-I-w-will-b-b-be".

"We'd better get back to Dr. O's", Kira pointed out as water still dripped from the Blue Ranger's clothing.

Xander looked at Tori as he summoned his Mystic Racer; "Fancy a ride back?"

* * *

That's it for Chapter 13, I'd love to know what everyone thinks of the story so far

And if I don't post again until after the 25th, then I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :D

Salut!


	15. Behind Bars

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_**Chapter 15**__**: Behind Bars**_

* * *

"What are you guys up to?" the four Rangers strode casually down into the Dino Lab to see both Tommy and Hayley hunched over one of many workbenches, this one in particular, currently held the Rangers' primary weapons, whilst Alpha stood nearby, apparently piecing the Sonic Fin back together.

"Trying to update the technology in your weaponry", Hayley replied nonchalantly as she threaded yet another wire into Adam's Blade Blaster.

"These things aren't computers y'know Hayley…they're powered by the energy from the Morphin' Grid". Xander looked slightly confused at her actions.

Tommy glanced over at Xander with the you'll-wish-you-never-said-anything look as the resident technical genius raised an eyebrow at the Green Ranger before beginning her explanation; "All weapons are technological to some extent so unless you're fighting with, say, rocks versus bigger rocks then your weapons will have some fatal flaw that will render them useless. Bullets and laser fire can be stopped by a simple Fullerene monomer shielding compound or an anti-kinetic inertial compression wave interference or even the inherent ability of exertion of will over an implanted biofeedback sensory simulator. More complex weapons have-…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think I get the picture", Xander held up his hands in surrender as Hayley stopped her more than detailed analysis, although she looked quite happy to continue.

Kira smirked at her green counterpart and sat down on the bottom step of the stone staircase that led to the Lair; "I take it that you don't want to come out with us then?" she directed the question at Tommy and Hayley.

"Thanks for the offer, but we'd better get this done", Tommy smiled apologetically through the grease stain that had appeared on his right cheek as he held up the smallest screwdriver that Kira had ever seen.

"Suit yourselves", Adam stretched his arms out and turned to leave.

"Yeah, we're in need of some serious downtime", Tori agreed.

"Yeah, yeah, you know, you should be doing some training", Tommy advised, yet to little effect as the gang proceeded on their original path, throwing waves back as they disappeared up the stairs.

* * *

The Rangers laughed and joked around, relieved to get some time away from the harsh reality of their unique responsibilities. The group sat contentedly on a bench in the center of Reefside's small square, despite the freezing temperature, each of them with a steaming cup of some kind of warm beverage in their hands. They all felt the effects of the cold winter air and it wasn't long before Xander chickened out.

"Anyone fancy a look around the music store?"

"Getting cold?"

Xander rolled his eyes at Tori; "Yeah, just a little".

They all drew their jackets around themselves a little tighter as they stood and still did so upon entering the wonderfully heated store. Reacclimatizing, Adam browsed the shelves piled high with CD's from every artist under the sun. However, just as he selected one from a new band called 'Eyeshine', four guys stood at the back of the shop caught his eye.

The store obviously sold quite a large collection of video games as well as music and the guys were hovering around one of the games consoles on display, their hoods drawn up over their heads and warily watching the few members of staff that milled around.

Slowly turning back around and minding his own business, Adam replaced the CD on its shelf and prepared to leave the store; "Does anyone else fancy pizza?"

"Sure!" the rest of the team eagerly gathered and made to go outside, only to be greeted by the raindrops that were now thundering down from the heavens.

"Aw, damn", Adam halted and lifted the hood on his jacket, the others following suit and they stepped out into the downpour.

"Some great downtime this is turning out to be", Tori muttered as they traced the steps to the nearest pizza joint.

"I'll say", Adam wholeheartedly agreed with the statement and briefly wished that he'd stopped inside.

"HEY! STOP!" a frantic yell sounded behind the group and they turned to see the four guys that Adam had noticed in the store barreling their way outside and towards the Rangers, an expensive games console in hand.

As they approached, one of the store employees came bursting through the door and the boy carrying the stolen console forced the object on Adam before continuing the mad dash to get away with his friends.

"What the hell?" a bewildered Black Ranger stood in the middle of the street holding a stolen piece of hardware just as the man from the shop reached him.

Panting slightly, the man pointed at the object in Adam's hands; "How about you give that me back?"

"Sure", Adam readily obliged and off-loaded the machine

"Oh, just in time!", the man sneered at the four Rangers as the wail of police sirens drew close.

"Too late – those kids are long gone", Adam pointed down the street as two uniformed police officers approached them.

"What's the problem here?" A stern-looking guy in full uniform addressed the store worker.

"They _stole_ this from my store", he gestured to the games console tucked under his left arm.

"Who did?"

"_They_ did!", the man pointed an accusing finger at the Rangers.

"What?!"

"I don't think so, dude!"

A flurry of denials rushed from the Rangers as they each stumbled to explain the situation at once.

"It wasn't us!"

"Yeah, four other guys did it-…"

"And threw it at me as they left!"

"So they could get out of here!"

"Uh huh…" the two officers did not look to be buying the story.

"Look, we'd _never_ do anything like that", Kira attempted to reason.

"Yeah, you've got the wrong people", Adam backed her up.

"I saw you all in my store, not five minutes ago!", the manager accused once again.

"So?" Xander attempted to see where this was going.

"So, you were all walking around with your hoods up…don't think I wasn't watching you!"

"Whoa, hold on there…", Adam had figured the identity mistake as he glanced at his friends; each with their hoods firmly up and over their heads; "_That_ wasn't us…there were four kids in there too, matching the same description. Don't you think that you've caught the wrong people?"

The man snorted his disgust; "I know thieves when I see them, I've been in this business twenty years!"

"That's enough…" the younger of the two police officers was getting impatient and he fully faced the four Rangers; "…I'm afraid you're all under arrest".

* * *

"This is just crazy!" Adam kicked the steel bars in front of him frustratedly, earning himself nothing but a dull pain in his toe.

"Hey!" Tori shouted out, attempting to catch the attention of a passing police officer, but he merely ignored her and carried on with his task.

Xander merely sighed, dejectedly as he glanced at his teammates, each in a separate cell to his own.

"Great…" Kira slumped back against the wall of her cell; "Now what?"

"_Guys?"_

Each Ranger; save Xander and Tori, slowly looked down at their morphers as Tommy's familiar voice sounded out. The nearby officers looked around in vague interest, but soon turned away again.

"Hey Tommy, listen, we're kinda in a sticky situation…"

"_Why are you whispering?"_ Adam could just picture Tommy's brow, furrowed in confusion.

"Keep it down, alright", he eyed the officers again; "We've been arrested-…"

"_Arrested?"_

"Yeah, there was a bit of a mix-up in town".

"_What kind of mix-up?"_

"I'll explain later, but they've got nothing on us, they'll have to let us go, but listen-…"

A shrill siren pierced through the air at the police station as officers scrambled to retrieve their weapons from their holsters.

At the same moment, the alarms in the Dino Lab blared and Adam could hear Hayley's running commentary in the background; _"The Hornets have learnt how to fly planes…well that's just perfect!"_

"_You guys need to get out of there…and fast"._

Hornets had appeared in Reefside and had apparently 'stolen' several weapon-stocked planes from a nearby Air Force base and were now causing havoc from the skies.

"It's not looking good, Tommy", Adam no longer concentrated on keeping his voice down as he watched Tori attempt to persuade one of the less intelligent officers to set them free.

"Come on! We're not exactly going to rob a bank in the middle of a monster attack, are we?" the Blue Ranger refused to let the officer get away.

"Sorry, but rules are rules", the guy shrugged and walked away to join his colleagues as a definitive rumble swept through the ground.

* * *

Xander's hopeful eyes wandered over to a steel table that sat a few feet away from his cell and currently housed all the Rangers' possessions that were deemed 'unsuitable' for them to have on their person – including both the Green and Blue Rangers' morphers. Fortunately, Adam and Kira had passed their morphers off as 'bracelets' of some kind and were therefore still able to communicate with the Dino Lab if they needed to.

"_Oh, that's not good!" _it was Hayley's voice they heard this time and it definitely had an air of panic about it.

"What? What's happening?" both Adam and Kira put their ears to their wrists.

"_These freaks have just figured out how to use the weapons attached to the planes..."_

"Oh…"

"_Yeah…you might want to work a little harder on getting yourselves out"._

"Hey, you!" Adam's hand shot out from inbetween the bars and poked one of the officers in the side.

"What?" the less than happy man frowned at Adam.

"Are you going to let us out or what?"

"Hmm, let me think…no!"

"But we can help you!" he gestured towards what he could only presume was the –Monster alarm'.

"Oh yeah…how?"

"I-…" Adam sighed, knowing full well that he had lost this battle of words unless he sacrificed his identity; "…never mind".

"I thought so". The grumpy man turned back to help his colleagues.

"_Erm…you guys had better hold onto something!"_

"Oh great, what's happened now?" Kira replied to Hayley this time.

"_There's a missile headed your way". She answered bluntly._

"WHAT?!"

"_They're quick learners…"_ Hayley muttered; _"Alpha, help me try and scramble this signal…hopefully we can change the flight path before it hits"._

"_Aye-ai-ai! I hope we're not too late!"_, the robot commented as he got to work.

However, Kira was now staring straight out of the window opposite her cell and her eyes were glued to a large object, flying extremely fast towards them; "I think you spoke too soon, Alpha".

"Hold on!"

The Ranger's all flung themselves to the floor as the missile hit…a deafening bang sounded and chunks of brick and plaster flew from the walls, the ceiling collapsing all around them. The four prisoners threw their hands instinctively over their heads to protect them from the raining debris. Nothing was visible through the rubble and clouds of dust that surrounded them and the shouts of frightened police officers were audible.

Finally daring to open his eyes, Adam slowly peered at his surroundings…the cell door had been blown clean off, which was a good thing, but he was buried under several large loads of concrete and had to struggle hard for several minutes to get himself free. Standing slowly, he brushed off the worst of the muck from his clothes and looked around at his teammates – all of whom where in similar situations as they coughed from the dust inhalation.

The officers didn't pay a blind bit of notice as the Rangers calmly collected their belongings from the floor and climbed over what was left of the police station, only two sections of wall remained standing and therefore, the roof was completely disintegrated.

Blinking up at the sky, the Hornets in their newly-acquired military transport were visible as they circled the city, occasionally releasing more missiles.

"We need to get up there", Xander eyed the planes.

The Rangers quickly found a place to morph before reemerging; "Hayley, the Zords?"

"_They're on their way"._

"Let's go!"

Xander flipped open his morpher;_ "_It's Titan Time!",

"_Galwit Mysto Prifior!"_

"Retroforce Megazord, now!" the huge machines began their transformation and finally stood tall and proud as one. The Megazord spread its huge wings and took off into the skies to join the fight.

"Let's take these guys down…", Adam suggested as the Megazord moved closer to one of its targets; the Mystic Sword magically transforming itself into a large blaster and taking aim.

"_Power Rangers, do not fire!"_

"What the-…" the Rangers looked around for the source of the voice; it sure wasn't Tommy or Hayley calling them.

"_I repeat, do not fire! Hold your positions"._

The Ranger glanced out of the Megazord to see a fighter plane that was flying alongside them and the occupant was clearly human.

"Oh great, looks like they've decided to join in", Xander jerked a thumb at the pilot that had obviously locked onto their communication frequency and was currently signaling to them. The actual Air Force had obviously decided to get involved, but they seemed more bothered about getting their stolen planes back in one piece than stopping the Hornets dead in their tracks before they could do more damage.

"Are you insane?" Adam replied back down the radio link to the adjacent plane; "These things aren't gonna stop for you!"

"_I'm only carrying out my orders, and the orders were to not engage in combat unless they make the first move"._

"That's ridiculous, they have live missiles at their disposal and you're gonna let them destroy the city?" thankfully, the Hornets seemed to be relatively inactive whilst the argument progressed.

"_Like I said, I'm only following orders from my Captain"._

"_Then I suggest that you need some new ones, Lieutenant". _A new voice appeared in the conversation and it was one that Adam recognized from one of Tommy's Ranger video diaries.

"_And who are you?"_ the cocky pilot stared at the two new planes that had flown up to join him and the Megazord.

"_Colonel Earhardt, I've brought reinforcements from the Turtle Cove Base…and I suggest that next time, you use the proper form of address"._

"_Sorry, ma'am", the pilot replied hurriedly._

"_Accepted, now, you will let the Power Rangers deal with this situation and provide them with the necessary backup and covering fire, is that clear?"_

"_Yes, ma'am"._

"_Good. You are clear to join as the second wingman"._

"_Roger". The pilot maneuvered the plane to complete the tri-formation._

"_Power Rangers, you are clear to go"._

"Thanks, Yellow Eagle", Adam grinned and saluted the former Ranger.

"Finally!" Tori let out a breath; "Can we get rid of these things now?"

"You know it!" the Megazord pulled away, pursued by the Air Force squadron and before long, a pirated plane flew into view, heading straight towards them. "Gotcha!" the Megazord deflected the incoming fire with its shield in one hand and lifted the blaster with the other; "Fire!"

"One down, two to go!" Kira hi-fived her green teammate as the Megazord pulled up, not wanting to be caught in the rather large explosion as the plane and its weapons disintegrated before them.

"Ha!" Xander grinned back, briefly musing at how bizarre the flying Megazord must have looked from the ground.

The two remaining Hornets had now witnessed the destruction of their comrade, along with god-knows-how-many-millions-of-dollars worth of Air Force Fighter Plane and had now started a revenge mission as the two sleek jets directed themselves towards the Megazord.

"_They've got missile lock!" _the update came courtesy of the central plane that accompanied the Megazord. _"Detach formation, now!" _On command, the two Wingmen broke the tri-formation, just as the remaining plane's nose pointed straight upwards and barreled into the skies. The Hornet released the high-powered rocket and it dutifully followed its target like a bad smell.

"Let's get this over with", Adam's eyes turned back to the two enemies.

"What about-…" Xander pointed after the missile.

"She can handle it", the Black Ranger replied firmly.

"If you say so", Xander didn't argue as the Megazord's blaster transformed back into the Mystic Sword.

"Dual Blade Mode!" the sword replicated itself and the diamond-shaped shield attached itself to the back of the Megazord, out of the way.

"Two in one?" Kira questioned, stating the obvious.

"You got it…"

"Thrusters, ignite!" the Megazord shot forwards towards the Hornets from the huge dose of extra power as flames shot out from the feet of the machine; "Slash Attack!" the Megazord raised the two identical swords and swiped them both in perfect timing as it rushed past the two planes.

Killing the thrusters, the mighty Megazord turned to survey the carnage as the two metal birds plummeted towards the ground, engulfed in violent flames.

"Nice", Xander observed helpfully, cocking his head at the two fireballs.

"Err, Power Rangers to Air Force…" Adam was unsure of the correct military terminology; "Is everyone OK?"

"_All accounted for, thankyou"_, Colonel Earhardt's plane reappeared after an apparently successful mission against the locked-on missile.

"Great, well, it was nice to work with you…Taylor", Adam saluted with a grin as the pilot came into view, knowing full well that the armed forces didn't address each other on first-name term.

"_You too…Adam", _came the reply and Taylor glanced wistfully down at the yellow crystal on the chain that hung from one of the instruments, briefly wishing, as she often did, that she could return to her Ranger life.

The Colonel quickly addressed her Wingmen; _"OK Lieutenants, good work, return to Base for debriefing"._

"_Yes Ma'am"_, both planes detached from formation and headed back down towards the ground.

"_Good luck Rangers"_, Taylor gave a strong salute, which they all returned and with one last glance, the plane tipped its nose and dived away and out of sight.

"Let's get out of here too, huh?" Xander suggested.

"We're not finished, look", Tori pointed downwards, towards a much larger than life figure that was currently stomping through Reefside, much to Xander's dismay.

"I think it's time to bring out one of these new upgrades", Adam hinted suggestively.

"I hear that!"

The Rangers each focused their full attention on the podiums that stood before each of them in the cockpit, their hands firmly gripping the telepathically-operated spheres that sat on top.

"Energy Sphere, now!"

The giant Megazord waved its hands methodically and a huge, crackling ball of electric charge appeared in its palms. The Retroforce was now within firing distance of the large creature, but shortly, that wouldn't matter.

"Strike!" the Megazord tossed the sphere in its hands before launching it towards the monster and the dumb creature didn't even get a chance to speak before the energy sphere enclosed its body and exploded noisily with a spectacular flash of blue light.

* * *

High above sea level in his mountainous lair, Osirico was not a happy evil Warlord and the dutiful Commander of his army could tell.

"My Lord, I-…"

"Save your apologies", Osirico swiftly interrupted Ammix; "This conquering of planets takes time…effort…_patience. _We have to stay positive about the situation – if one of my warriors gets destroyed in the process, then so be it". He crossed his scaly arms behind his back, the silvery armor clinking slightly as he paced the Throne Room of the lair before turning his jet-black eyes back towards Ammix; "I believe these humans have a saying…"

"'No pain…no gain'"

* * *

There goes another chapter…hope you're still enjoying the series, there's plenty more left to come

Thanks to all who have reviewed!


	16. Mysto's Magic

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_Here I am and I have to apologize again for my stupidly long update times, so if you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, then that would be much appreciated! :p_

_Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the next chapter…_

_**Chapter 16**__**: Mysto's Magic**_

* * *

"_And in other news, the Reefside Police Department have ended the robbing antics of a well-known group of teenagers in the area. The youngsters, who cannot be named, were previously wanted in connection with a string of burglary offences and have finally been brought to justice caught in possession of a stolen games console…"_

"You see, we did nothing wrong!" the Rangers still maintained their story of exactly _why_ they had ended up in jail a few days before, much to the amusement of Tommy.

"Whatever, guys", Tommy grinned; "You look way too guilty for me."

"Tommy Oliver!"

The man in question jumped nervously in his seat and craned his neck slowly towards the angry voice. He watched as Hayley's red hair came to rest on his shoulder, her face inches from his own and a wicked grin playing across it.

"I suggest that you take your feet _off _my table…" she indicated the paleontologists rather muddy shoes; "Unless you want me to set the Zords after you?"

Tommy quickly did as instructed and Hayley's face relaxed back into a smile. Satisfied, she stood up; "Thankyou", reaching over his head she collected a couple of empty glasses from the table and proceeded back to the counter.

"Anyway", Tommy turned back to the Rangers, ignoring the smirks coming his way; "I'm gonna have to start making sure that you guys are supervised at all times".

"Tommy…" Adam wore a disgusted look on his face, despite the joke; "I'm 26. And you're not much older".

For the rest of the group, it was quite entertaining to watch the battle of words between two old friends. Xander nudged Tori in the side; "Wanna see something funny?"

Tori noticed the mischievous twinkle in the Green Ranger's eyes and glanced down to see his Mystic Morpher open and pointing directly at Tommy, yet she couldn't help but grin; "Go for it".

He glanced around, to check that no-one was watching; "This is one Clare taught me", he winked before clearing his throat and reciting the incantation; "Corum Oviat Ditrum!" keeping his morpher trained on Tommy, the former Ranger disappeared in a flash of light.

"What the-…" Adam looked around as his friend vanished, completely bewildered.

"Where is he?" Tori whispered at Xander. The Green Ranger didn't answer, but merely nodded to behind the sofa.

"Baaaaaaaa!"

Tori snorted her laughter in a rather unrefined manner; whilst Kira looked up in time to spit her drink straight back out of her mouth.

"Doctor O?"

The Yellow Ranger tilted her head towards the rather woolly creature that now trotted up to them, unable to contain her laughter.

"Baaaa!"

Adam leaned over to Xander and whispered in his ear; "Can't we keep him like this?"

"Sure", the Green Ranger shrugged with a grin as the 'sheep' nosed his arm persistently, demanding to be transformed back.

With not much else to do, Hayley wandered over to them, in search of conversation, but instead, she nearly went headfirst over the new Doctor Oliver. Casting a curious glance at the looks on the Rangers' faces, coupled with the one person missing from the group…Hayley didn't need to be the genius she was to work out what had happened.

"Hmm…well it's a big improvement if you ask me", she commented with a smile, patting Tommy's head affectionately. The sheep raised its head and nipped her hand as he once more tried to convince her otherwise.

"Right, well I'd better get going – I promised I'd meet the guys in half an hour." Kira stepped carefully over Tommy to pick up her bag before walking away. "Oh, hang on…" she stopped in her tracks and took out her cell phone, using it to take a picture of Tommy.

"Baaaa!"

"Sorry, couldn't resist!" she grinned as the sheep showed its frustration and she exited the café.

"I'd might as well go and see how the shop's doing", Tori shrugged, not wanting to be left with nothing to do.

"And what about me?" Xander mocked a hurt look on his face; "I can't exactly shoot off back to Briarwood – it's way too far".

"OK, so come with me then", Tori suggested as if the answer was simple.

"What, to Blue Bay?"

"Yeah, why not."

"OK then, cool! Where's your van?"

"Oh, we're not driving…" a mischievous glint appeared in the Blue Ranger's eyes.

"So how on earth are we getting there?"

"The Ninja way."

"What?" Xander looked slightly scared now.

"You heard me…Well, we'll see you guys later", she took a glance at Tommy; "Do you reckon you should turn him back?" the question was directed at Xander.

"I suppose", he reluctantly raised his morpher and uttered the reverse spell and moments later, Tommy Oliver stood back on two feet.

* * *

"So, whatever you do, _don't_ let go".

"Right, got it".

Xander gripped hard onto Tori's arm as if she was the only thing keeping him alive and looked nervously ahead of him at the deserted alleyway behind the Cyberspace.

"Ready?" she looked to check he was okay.

"Yeah…"

And without warning, they literally shot off. A blazing blue and green streak passed the window of the Cyberspace and Xander gritted his teeth hard, clinging onto his only means of support. The world sped past in a blur, faster than he could register it in his head and the speed was incredible, even though his legs weren't moving. Thirty seconds later, they came to an abrupt stop and dizziness swept through the Green Ranger like a shot and Tori gripped him with both hands to keep him upright.

"You OK?"

"I think so", he blinked wildly as his eyes refocused and the nausea passed. She nodded and slowly let go of his shoulders and Xander thankfully stayed on his feet.

"How do you do that all the time without being sick?"

"Practice," Tori answered the question simply and Xander seemed satisfied with the reply.

The pair stepped out of the clump of trees they had landed within and onto the main street. The Green Ranger could smell the salt in the air and the roar of the waves was audible in his ears. "So this is Blue Bay Harbor, huh?"

"Yep…and _this_ is my shop". No less than fifty yards away was a cheery blue sign hanging from one of the buildings and a collection of surf boards were visible through the window.

"Cool", Xander pushed the door open to see two men stood near the counter, a nice wad of money in one of their hands. The guy serving them took the bills and in return, walked around to hand them a brand-new board. Looking pleased with their uniquely designed purchase, they left the shop in high spirits, leaving just Tori and Xander with the shop assistant.

"Hey Tor!" The curly-haired assistant leapt the counter and hugged one of his best friends tightly.

"Hi Dustin…could you kinda let go a bit though," the Blue Ranger indicated as she struggled to draw breath and he instantly released her.

"Sorry," he ran a hand through his hair sheepishly and grinned; "So how's it going with the Rangers?"

* * *

"We may have to start getting more adventurous with our plans…more _cunning_…" High in his lair, Osirico pondered his next tactical move; Ammix stood obediently by his side.

"My Lord, I'm sure you have heard of Mysto, he resides within the Asteroid Belt…apparently he hates visitors," the serpentine Commander added as an afterthought.

"Yes…" Osirico's mind filtered through the memories; "Yes, I have. He is renowned for his _controlling_ capabilities." He allowed an evil smirk to grace his scaly lips and turned to his second-in-command; "Bring him to me! And make sure that you are one visitor he _will_ yield to."

* * *

An hour later, Adam had persuaded a reluctant Tommy to train against him. "You're going down, Oliver." He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as Tommy stepped onto the sparring mat.

"Give me a break, man, I'm not used to this anymore." He relaxed back into his trademark fighting stance.

Adam snorted his disbelief, accompanied by a small grin. "Whatever."

Tommy's eyes glinted mischievously and he threw himself forward, throwing a series of flying kicks straight in the Black Ranger's direction. Adam swiftly rose to block them all using a knife-hand technique and counteracted with a powerful tornado kick.

Tommy ducked in suitable time and also managed to grab onto the sneaky fist that was heading for his jaw. Twisting Adam's hand around, he deftly flung him straight over his shoulder in a spinning motion. However, Adam managed to land solidly on his feet and the impact knocked him free of Tommy's grip. The Black Ranger twisted on the spot to avoid a fist from Tommy and set about unleashing his own combination of attacks.

The two fought hard for the next ten minutes and neither noticed when Hayley appeared in the room. "Err…guys?"

The two men were not listening and Tommy grinned in triumph when he successfully pinned Adam to the floor.

"Tommy!"

For the second time that day, the man in question jumped at the sound of her voice. Releasing his grip, he allowed Adam to cease his struggling and he looked up. "What's up, Hails?"

Hayley rolled her eyes; "I've been trying to contact you both – we've got trouble."

* * *

"In there!" Ammix growled and shoved the resistant alien into the Throne room.

"Good work," Osirico's eyes looked towards his Commander as he acknowledged the completion of the task he had set him. Ammix merely bowed deeply and stood aside whilst his Master took over proceedings. The alien watched Osirico's movements and turned defensively towards him, unsure of his intentions.

"So you must be Mysto," the question was rhetorical as Osirico paced around him patiently.

"Who wants to know?" the alien growled back; "I hope you've got a good reason for this!"

"You're a feisty one…" Osirico leered, drawing his face level with Mysto's. "Your 'talent' is no secret to me, so I have a simple proposition for you."

"I'm not for hire," the monster crossed his arms defiantly.

Osirico was silent for a few seconds before he replied. "This planet has quite a number of _dangerous_ creatures…these fish stripped the last person who said 'no' to me, down to the bone in _minutes_," he lit up his viewing screen with video footage showing the exact process.

Mysto winced audibly and glanced at Osirico, who stared right back at him, waiting for the inevitable answer. He was outnumbered, out-maneuvered and out-gunned…"What do you want from me?"

Osirico smiled evilly in recognition of his triumph; "I don't care how you do it, but I want those Power Rangers and anyone who associates with them, destroyed!"

Mysto's mouth twitched into a satisfied grin; "Not a problem."

* * *

Dustin chatted away animatedly for the best part of an hour as Tori checked the records and went through heaps of mail that had arrived in her name.

"Tor!"

Xander yelled over from the other side of the shop and the Blue Ranger looked up; "Yeah?"

"We gotta go, there's trouble back in Reefside."

Tori groaned inwardly and looked apologetically at her old friend. "Sorry Dustin, but you know how it is."

"Yeah, it's cool," he gave a lop-sided grin in response; "Hey, maybe I could, like, come over to Reefside and visit…I haven't had a vacation in years! We could all hang out and I'm sure Kelly would look after the shop - it would be totally awesome!"

"Sure!" she hugged him before making to leave. "Just call ahead, and i'll be ready."

"Sweet! I'll drop by and tell Shane." He bounded back to the counter excitedly; "Later, dudes! Kick some ass for me!"

* * *

"What took _you_ so long?" Tori looked around as Adam sprinted towards the rest of the Rangers.

"Just got a little held up," he shrugged it off and decided to catch up, seeing that the others were already morphed. "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"Bring it!" the enraged form of Mysto growled and sat back into a comfortable fighting stance, securely behind the Hornets that had accompanied him.

"With pleasure!" The Rangers charged and made contact with the inferior Grunts, swatting the first few aside like flies and taking their weapons to the rest.

Adam broke free of a crowd and made a beeline for Mysto…who was waiting for him.

"Adam! Don't go near him!" Xander yelled as he spotted the Black Ranger's movements.

"Power Axe!" Adam wasn't listening and continued to power towards his target, unaware of the unique talent he possessed. Xander watched on, helpless as he battled the Hornets. If Adam had arrived sooner, then he would have witnessed the demonstration of Mysto's power…

The Black Ranger raised the axe high above his head and swung it downwards…

"I don't think so."

The creature shot a hand forwards, but instead of reaching to block the attack, it remained stock still before him, emitting an invisible, yet evidently highly powerful force.

"What's happening?!" the axe hung in mid-air, with Adam unable to move it any further. It was an unnerving sensation, almost as if he had no control over his own body. The Black Ranger's eyes widened however, when his wrist slowly began to turn, completely out of his control and the large weapon now faced its owner.

"Quite talented, aren't I?" Mysto's eyes bored into Adam's as he effortlessly kept control over him.

"Adam!" Tori charged forwards, quickly followed by Kira in an attempt to help their teammate.

"No, don't!" Xander wasn't quick enough to stop them and looked on helplessly.

Mysto turned to see the Blue and Yellow Rangers bearing down; "Oh, please!" he stared at them for a few seconds and before they knew it, their legs had stopped moving and they ground to a dead halt.

"Hey!" Tori tried hard to will her feet to pick themselves up, yet with no success. She looked over at Kira, who was evidently having the same problem. They were rooted to the ground…literally.

"Mind control is a wonderful thing…" Mysto mused as he surveyed the stranded trio. Moving away slightly, his gaze came to rest on Xander; "Now it's your turn…"

"No…" the Green Ranger shuffled backwards, muttering something inaudible as he briefly closed his eyes. Opening them again, he slowly reached down for his Magistaff and like lightning, unleashed a blast of energy towards Mysto.

The force was deflected by the villain into a nearby building, causing the windows to shatter, glass falling noisily to the ground. "Nice try."

* * *

"Mind control?" Tommy looked at Hayley with a disbelieving eye. "It doesn't exist." He said flatly.

"Really?"

"Course it doesn't…it's a ridiculous idea."

"Don't you try and tell me that you've never been under mind control..."

Tommy opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it. "Okay, so how are we meant to defeat this guy?"

"I don't know…you're the expert, it's not like this is a new problem to you".

"Yeah, but one of us always managed to avoid getting controlled…the monster would have to look into your eyes or have contact of some kind to establish control...but _he_ doesn't have to at all, he just focuses his mind and…bam!"

Hayley frowned and looked back at the surveillance screen…this wasn't looking good.

* * *

"My Lord…" Mysto tapped a small device that was attached to the wrist guard that he wore; "The Rangers have been taken care of".

An unpleasant voice echoed back; _"Excellent! Ammix, get down there and finish the job!"_

"_Right away."_

Mysto smirked and turned to face the four immobile Rangers. "I'm afraid your end is near…" he approached Adam, who's axe was still staring him in the face. "It's a shame about the suits," his gaze focused on the Black Ranger's helmet; "Personally, i'd want to look into the eyes of whoever I destroyed."

"You haven't won yet!"

"In a few moments, you'll want to take that statement back-…"

Meanwhile, a frustrated Xander watched the scene unfold…just one tiny move would alert Mysto and his advantage would be swiftly realized…

_Flashback _

"_Mind control is a wonderful thing…" Mysto mused as he surveyed the stranded trio. Moving away slightly, his gaze came to rest on Xander; "Now it's your turn…"_

"_No…" the Green Ranger shuffled backwards, he needed just a few seconds to focus his mind… "Protego Mentis!" he uttered the spell that he hoped would save him, hoping it was inaudible enough for Mysto not to suspect anything. He briefly closed his eyes. Opening them again, he slowly reached down for his Magistaff and like lightning, unleashed a blast of energy towards Mysto._

_The force was deflected by the villain into a nearby building, causing the windows to shatter, glass falling noisily to the ground. "Nice try."_

_End flashback_

Pretending to be under a powerful spell was harder than it looked, yet Xander inched his hand closer to the Magistaff tucked into his belt, his eyes never moving from Mysto as he continued to taunt Adam.

"Well, well, well…what have we got here?" the low hiss of Ammix drifted towards them and Xander looked up to see the Serpentine Commander fast approaching. Rapidly ceasing movement on his part, the Green Ranger waited until Ammix' visual inspection of the Rangers had passed. "Such an effective method, if I ever saw one".

"Thankyou." Mysto bowed to show his appreciation at the compliment.

_Yes! _Xander's hand finally touched upon his Magistaff, but he was now faced with two villains rather than one.

"Let us go you freaks!" Kira shouted angrily, powerless to do anything else.

"You're not going anywhere fast…unless you believe in the afterlife?" Ammix leered over her, his forked tongue flickering inches from her face.

All he had to do was free the other Rangers from Mysto's spell, which probably meant either hurting him or causing a significant distraction. Xander waited as patiently as he dared – Ammix was the problem here, not Mysto. The serpent was the one who would react the fastest, so it was vital that he was as far away as possible when Xander attacked. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to disappear in a hurry and the Green Ranger waited until he was as far away as he was going to get before making his move…

"Ha!" Mysto's eyes widened in shock as a green, gloved hand came out of nowhere, brandishing a lethal-looking weapon. The Magistaff swept straight across his chest plate, leaving a deep, smoldering crack. Mysto growled and staggered backwards, his attention drawn to the injury.

Ammix wheeled just in time to see the three captured Rangers suddenly released from Mysto's hold, their frames immediately relaxing as they took back control over their own bodies. Xander wasted no time in conjuring the same spell he had used on himself over his three teammates; preventing a repeat of Mysto's power.

"How did you do that?!" the creature looked outraged.

"You're not the only one who knows some magic," Xander wagged his finger disapprovingly as he joined up with the rest of the team, ready for the final leg of the battle.

"Get up there and finish them!" Ammix ordered, thrusting his finger skyward.

"_By the power of the demons, arise!"_

Hayley sent the Zords without being asked and Xander also took the hint; immediately transformed into his Titan Mode.

"Retroforce Megazord, now!"

"Do not come back unless they are defeated!" Ammix turned swiftly on his heel and disappeared in a crack of lightning, his threat lingering in the air.

"Let's get this over with; then I can finally get back to doing something worthwhile!" the giant form of Mysto clasped his hands together in anticipation.

"That's fine by us…Mystic Sword!"

The Axe in the Megazord's right hand hovered for a few seconds as the components swapped and rearranged themselves to form the desired weapon, before cementing itself back into the Rangers' grasp. The Megazord charged and a giant hand swung around its back to reach for the large, diamond-shaped shield that was held there. Drawing it to the front, the mighty Zord lunged, its full weight behind the Sword as it made harsh contact with Mysto's shoulder.

The monster howled in pain and instinctively drew its injured arm backwards, out of the line of attack, but the Rangers persisted and struck again, this time aiming on the opposite side of his body, hoping to catch him off-guard.

However, the enraged creature was obviously in a decent enough frame of mind to sidestep the huge sword as it swiped through the air and in turn, he sent a harsh backhand straight towards the Megazord's head. The Rangers reacted a fraction too slowly and the shield was too late to block the blow as the Rangers were shaken about the cockpit.

Grabbing a hold on their telepathically activated consoles, the four managed to stay upright, but the experience was no less irritating.

"We've had enough of you!" Xander clenched a fist and stared back at the creature that had caused them so much trouble.

"_Seeing that you're all fired up, how about you try a new technique?" _Hayley's voice floated through the communication systems.

"We're listening…"

"_It's not a new weapon, but it works just as good," _Tommy replied this time. "Those thrusters you've got…you can use them in more than one way you know." He stated as if it should be obvious; "They kick out quite a bit of heat…"

"Haha, nice one Dr. O!" the proverbial lightbulb flicked on in Kira's head as she grinned in realization at the others.

"Huh?"

"What? Oh come on…it's obvious." Kira stared disbelievingly at her teammates.

"Uh, hello? 'Fire' plus 'monster' equals 'Boom!'"

"Ohhhhh…"

If the Rangers could have seen Tommy and Hayley then they would have witnessed the pair banging their heads against the nearest wall. But there was no time to think about it when the Megazord was abruptly pulled from its feet only to find the earth just as quickly with a loud crash.

"I got bored waiting!" Mysto leered over them as the giant machine lay beneath the creature's feet.

"Yeah? Well it won't be long now." The Megazord rapidly raised its large fists as smashed them straight into Mysto's kneecaps. The creature's legs buckled and gave way underneath him, effectively reversing the combatants' positions with seconds. "How d'you like that?"

"Get _off_ me!" Mysto struggled, but the sheer weight of the Megazord pinning him down was enough to keep him at bay.

"Fine…" the Megazord picked him up and launched him straight into the air. The monster crashed back down to Earth with a definitive rumble and staggered uneasily to his feet. The Rangers stood triumphant, but their enemy was not yet giving up. "…Goodbye Mysto." The Megazord struck a new pose. "Inferno Spin!" the Zord flipped onto the horizontal at lined itself up, feet first, before Mysto and started to spin rapidly.

"This is weird…" Xander gestured to the fact that the cockpit was now pointing in completely the opposite direction to their target.

"Thrusters, ignite!"

The flames rocketed out of the soles of the Megazord's feet and the machine surged towards Mysto, the fire twirling menacingly until it finally engulfed the monster…the Rangers felt the Megazord physically connect with him and the creature rapidly combusted, exploding into a thousand red-hot chunks.

* * *

"I feel ill…" Xander moaned as the Rangers descended the stairs to the lair after another successful outing.

"Stop complaining…you do loop-the-loops in the sky on your Racer, but you puke when the Megazord goes backwards?" Tori questioned his logic.

"Yeah…it's the whole 'backwards' thing, it _really_ doesn't do it for me."

Adam shook his head in disbelief and grinned, patting the Green Ranger on the back. "Get used to it buddy."


	17. Only Human

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POWER RANGERS**

_**Chapter 17**__**: Only Human**_

"This job never gets any easier, does it?" Adam sighed and stretched back in his comfortable chair, lazily watching as Hayley turned the sign on the Cyberspace door from 'Open' to 'Closed'.

"I'll agree with that one," Tommy replied with a small laugh whilst he sipped at a steaming mug of coffee. It was going on 7pm and the sun had just set on the horizon, basking the Cyberspace in a comforting orange glow as the full Ranger team lazed around, taking full advantage of knowing that the place was now officially closed to the public.

"I know, but seriously, Osirico's thrown some real badass monsters at us recently and they'd better not get any worse or we're gonna need a bigger arsenal." Adam added.

"Well…" Hayley took a seat on the arm of Tommy's chair. "…Who said that work wasn't already in progress?"

Osirico paced the dark corridors of his lair, the evil Lord's mind working furiously as Ammix followed dutifully behind him, Raptir also not far behind.

"I think we should try new tactics, my Lord." The serpentine Commander suggested nervously, not entirely confident in interrupting Osirico's thoughts so abruptly.

"Oh really?" The Warlord stopped and turned to face his subordinate, with a look on his face that clearly said 'this had better be good'.

"Yes…attacking the Rangers directly hasn't worked the last few times, so I propose that we try an alternative method." Ammix explained, "At least until we have a better way to combat their new weaponry," he added quickly. "I have also acquired a new 'contact' amongst the humans."

Osirico whirled around, his eyes blazing, "A human?"

Ammix took a wary step backwards as he felt the energy that pulsed from the constant personal forcefield that surrounded Osirico, "I assure you that he is reliable, my Lord."

Osirico was silent for a tense moment before giving a satisfied nod. "Very well," he flicked his hand and gestured for Ammix to leave, "Do what you must, either you will succeed…or you will learn a valuable lesson."

"Yes, my Lord." Ammix bowed deeply and strode away, Raptir following; determined to do Osirico's bidding and prove his worth.

"So what's this new weapon then?" Xander questioned eagerly as the Rangers followed Hayley down to the basement of Tommy's house.

"Well it's not a new weapon as such…it's more of an improvement," she explained as she brought up the relevant data files on the computer system. The Rangers stared at the mixture of text and numbers with blank expressions on their faces, the 'computer-talk' as Tommy affectionately called it; not making any logical sense. "It makes me feel a bit stupid for not thinking of it earlier really…" Hayley carried on her reasoning and opened up an image of a fully-morphed and powered-up Conner from the days of Dino Thunder.

"Now _that_ looks cool." Xander uncrossed his arms, evidently approving of the Red Dino Ranger's arsenal.

"I'm sure that Kira remembers the Triassic Powers that I developed for Conner a few years ago…" Hayley glanced at the Yellow Ranger, who nodded in response. "Well, this worked primarily on the foundations of combining the powers of the three Dino Gems into one individual and as you can see…" she pointed at the image, "The result of this was that Conner was able to make use of what was essentially three times the normal power. He gained better weaponry, armor, strength…you name it."

The Rangers all nodded to show that they were following and Adam asked, "So, you're saying that you're gonna use the same idea with our powers?"

Hayley smiled, pleased that Adam had seen where she was going, "Yes, but there's still a bit of a problem; the same one I always had with the Dino Gems, in fact – For the moment, only one of you will be able to utilize it at any one time. The rest of you will have to 'lend' some of your powers for it to work."

"Will we demorph? Like what happened with Conner at first?" Kira asked curiously.

"No, as there are four of you this time, there's more power to go around and there shouldn't be a problem with that." Hayley pressed a key and got rid of the picture of Conner. "This is still a work in progress, so eventually, you will all be able to power-up simultaneously, with no ill effects."

"Good work Hails," Tommy smiled, just as Alpha appeared, having just finished his work in the Zord bay. "You too Alpha."

"Thankyou Tommy." The robot inclined his head as he shuffled over to the Rangers. "The upgrades should work perfectly…Aye-ai-ai-ai-ai!" Alpha pointed his finger at the screen behind Hayley. "There's a monster attacking!"

Everyone else in the room whirled simultaneously to look at the image and sure enough, as was now usual, there was quite a large disturbance in the center of Reefside. Adam nodded at the other Rangers, "Let's go!"

"IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"NINJA STORM, RANGER FORM! HA!"

"MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP! HA!"

The Rangers sped onto the scene on their various modes of transport, only to find the area almost devoid of people, except for the small convoy of police cars that had rolled up outside a five-storey office block. The four continued onwards, already having guessed that the commotion lay inside the building.

"I'm gonna have to hold you right there." One of the cops, who was obviously the officer in charge held his hand up firmly as the Rangers approached.

"What do you mean? We have to get in there," Tori pointed towards the building, quite annoyed by the man's interruption.

"Not today people." The officer was being stubborn, "We have a hostage situation here – one of our guys is already up there dealing with proceedings."

"Dealing with proceedings? Is that what-…" Xander's furious remark was abruptly cut off by a shrill scream…one filled with utmost terror…and it belonged to someone up in the building…"

Not a second later, a voice came through on the radio of the police chief, "Sir, we…lost one of the hostages. I repeat, we are one hostage down."

Each Ranger simultaneously rounded on the cop, their postures conveying more than words could in the present situation. "I think we'll take it from here," Adam stated darkly, the man not daring to argue. "I'm going in."

"So are we." Kira added.

"No, you guys stay here…we can't have this monster running for it."

"Adam's right," Tori interjected before anyone could argue. "We'll get the Megazord so we can see right in the window. That thing won't get out alive."

The Black Ranger nodded and began to run towards the building's nearest entrance. "Adam!" Kira called after him and he twisted his head to look at her. "At least let us give you a present to go in with…" and with that, she twisted her hands in front of her chest, drawing a glowing yellow power inbetween them which she unleashed in Adam's direction.

The energy flowed straight through the Black Ranger's suit and he felt it infuse with his own power. Adam gasped at the sudden energy increase and let out a long breath. "Whoa…"

"And we're not even finished," Tori and Xander copied Kira's motions and produced exactly the same effect. Adam could only watch, wide-eyed as his suit transformed before his eyes. Almost the entire Ranger suit that covered him bulged outwards and began to warp and morph into solid, reinforced metal armor plating that wrapped itself securely around the vital parts of his body. A matching, detachable sword and shield combo also materialized that Hayley had obviously designed from the Triassic Ranger arsenal, with the obvious similarities. Breathing hard from the transfer, Adam stood impressed for a second before shaking himself back to the present and continuing his sprint into the building.

As promised, the three remaining Rangers remained fully morphed and feeling only slightly drained. "OK…" Tori set back on the task ahead and spoke into her morpher, "Hayley, send the Zords."

"_On their way. I've got the Shogun on manual override, so leave that part to me."_

"Got it." The Blue Ranger nodded to Xander and he began his transformation, pulling out his Mystic Morpher.

"Galwit Mysto Prifior!"

"Let's get up there," Kira motioned skywards as she leapt into the cockpit of the Pterodactyl.

"Right behind you," Tori mimicked her actions towards the Dolphin and with a little help from Hayley, the four Zords combined into the Megazord. "How's it going Adam?" The Blue Ninja spoke into her morpher.

Inside the office block, Adam carefully stalked his way up to the top floor where all the noise appeared to be coming from, checking each room along the way for signs of anything suspicious. "Nothing yet…but i'm not far away-…"

"Wait…I see someone!" Xander interrupted as the Megazord peered through the top floor windows. Closer inspection revealed that there were about twenty people all knelt on the floor, their hands behind their heads and in varying states of mind. Many were visibly shaking and a couple had silent tears rolling down their cheeks and they kept their eyes glued on someone near the far wall, despite the obvious presence of the huge Megazord. "Top floor, Adam."

"I thought so…" he replied as he opened the door to the stairwell, silently creeping upwards. The powered-up Black Ranger exited into the top floor corridor that was now only powered by emergency lighting, but something up ahead froze him in his tracks…

…It was a man, a young man by the look of him, except that his youth had evidently been short-lived as he lay sprawled face-down in the carpet, a steady red trickle issuing from somewhere beneath him. Adam bowed his head and looked away. After all his time spent as a Ranger, this man was the first human casualty he had come across and the Black Ranger let out a long, drawn-out breath that he hadn't realized he was holding in.

Seconds later, Adam was forced to dive for cover as loud, scraping footsteps approached. Peeking out from the doorway he was in, he watched as a large, scruffy-looking guy dragged another guy wearing a suit down the opposite corridor and threw him into one of the adjoining rooms. Adam was slightly confused until he saw the loose earpiece that swung on its wire around the captured man's neck. _"Not today people." The officer was being stubborn, "We have a hostage situation here – one of our guys is already up there dealing with proceedings."_

"I'll deal with you later!" the scruffy man growled before slamming the door and retracing his steps back and out of sight once more. The Black Ranger raised a surprised eyebrow beneath his visor. Was this man _working for_ Osirico? The answer must have been 'yes', otherwise the alarms back at Tommy's house wouldn't have been triggered…therefore, there were evil forces somewhere in this building.

Adam took a last lingering look at the dead man on the floor beside him and said a silent mental prayer before moving towards the room that contained the police officer. With a quick look about him, he roughly forced the locked door open to reveal the guy stood right in front of him, a twisted paperclip in hand, evidently trying to pick the lock.

The Black Ranger wasted no time with the usual pleasantries as he shut the door behind him. "OK, what's going on in here?"

The cop shrugged and threw the paperclip onto the work desk behind him. "I don't know…the guy doesn't appear to want _anything_ – money, power, a friend released from jail…_nothing_."

Adam frowned. What was Osirico up to?

"I'll tell you what I do know though," the cop began, "That guy is number one on the whole of California's 'most wanted' list. Convicted of several murders a few years back, sentenced to life behind bars but someone broke him out last week."

"I guess that explains his treacherous connections then - he's got nothing to lose." Adam commented, more to himself than anyone. "Still, I need to get moving. You stay here," he motioned to the cop.

"But-…"

"Stay here." Adam reiterated firmly as he exited the room and quickly walked down the corridor, in the direction that he had seen the convicted man go earlier.

"Adam, where are you?" Tori hissed frustratedly down her morpher, "You need to get these people out…and fast!"

"_I'm on my way," the Black Ranger replied as he reached the door to the room in question. "I'm ju-…"_

Tori frowned to herself as his sentence cut off halfway, "Adam?"

"…"

"Adam?" She repeated his name again, a little more urgently and when he didn't reply a second time, the alarms bells started to ring inside her head. "Damn!"

"Tor? I don't think he's gonna answer…" Xander pointed out of the Megazord cockpit towards the room they were guarding to see the gunman with his weapon jammed into the side of one man's head, as Adam stood near the door, feverishly debating his options.

"Great…do you reckon we can hit him from here?" Kira nodded at the armed man.

"I wouldn't want to risk it…not even just using my blaster." Tori sighed, but glanced up again as the gunman put his forefinger to his ear, as if listening to something. "He's talking to him…" she muttered, "Osirico or one of his freaks is talking to him right now…he's got an earpiece!"

"We need to get in there!"

Meanwhile, inside the building, Adam stood only a few meters from the captor after having been unluckily scoped out during his brief transmission with the other Rangers.

"So…we finally have a Power Ranger!" The man laughed insanely and Adam finally recognized his face from the newspapers – he was the escaped convict. "It's quite ironic…even if you win this, you still didn't save them all," he laughed again, referring to the dead man outside in the corridor as his gun still pressed firmly into the head of the quivering next victim.

Adam gritted his teeth as he fought back a retort and forced himself to remain silent until the man revealed his plans. "So you don't want to talk?" the man asked snidely. "Of course, you're free to leave at any time…if you don't mind what happens to this bunch." He jerked his head at the other hostages in the room and they turned their fearful, pleading gazes upon Adam.

The Black Ranger inwardly cursed his own carelessness, even as he stood there in his mightily powered-up suit; he was unable to help anyone. The gunman listened to the voice in his ear once more and flicked his eyes back to Adam, "Where are the rest of your friends?"

Adam almost grinned inanely at the question as he glanced pointedly at the Megazord that still towered outside the window. "Isn't it obvious?" The gunman had revealed his primary intentions without realizing it…Whoever was giving him his orders had clearly stated that all the Rangers should be present if possible and of course, with so many innocent people in the room, they had naturally assumed that all four of them would be there. They were wrong.

The man followed Adam's eyes hesitantly and the Black Ranger seized his chance, whipping up his new sword and lunging forwards so that it was now mere centimeters from the man's throat. The man's eyes widened as he realized what Adam was doing and instinctively raised his gun towards the Black Ranger, allowing his victim to dash to relative safety.

"OK everyone," Adam addressed the other hostages, "I want all of you to leave this room, there's a fire escape down the corridor for you to get outside. Go!"

One by one and without a word, people started to move slowly and then a lot more eagerly as they realized that they were indeed going to get away unharmed. Within seconds there were only two people left in the room.

"Checkmate." Adam said coolly.

"_Do it!" _The Black Ranger heard the shouted command from where he was standing and the man glanced at his earpiece out of the corner of his eye.

However, within a second, the gun had swiveled to train on an object in the far corner of the room…something that Adam hadn't seen. Something highly explosive.

The gunman fired.

The trio of Rangers in the Megazord had now abandoned the giant robot and were running to help Adam, but a deafening explosion rumbled outwards from the building, shaking the ground they were standing on.

"Whoa!" The ground shook violently once more and the Rangers fought to keep their balance, each of them glancing around for any sign of their Black comrade. "What the hell was-…" Another mighty roar drowned out the rest of Kira's sentence and the trio watched in horror as the tall building before them creaked and groaned until the supports of the structure finally gave way…

The building seemed to fall in slow motion, slowing sinking downwards at an obscure angle as Adam struggled to stay upright. He managed to kick himself away from the insane gunman, who still leered at him despite the impeding chaos, not showing a flicker of fear.

As chunks of plaster and various office items fell from the walls, the ceiling also began to cave in and Adam barreled towards the door the best he could, shielding his face from any stray debris…

"Adam! Please tell me that you're getting out of there?" Tori yelled into her morpher above the noise.

"_I'-…-ay down…hu-…damn-…-ar…"_

The reply was full of interference and nobody could offer any kind of translation for the Black Ranger's broken sentence.

"JUST GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE…AND FAST!" Tori shouted back and the Rangers were all forced to take a few rather large steps backwards as the building finally toppled with a definitive series of loud thuds, sending a huge cloud of dust into the air.

There was silence for a brief moment as the dust settled and the Rangers ran forwards, peering through the rubble for any sign of…

"ADAM!" Kira yelled out as the man in question slowly picked himself out of the debris, the rest of the team rushing forwards to help him.

"You OK, buddy?" Xander looked him up and down with a grimace, the new armor battered and scratched, but otherwise intact.

"Yeah…Yeah i'm good," Adam replied slowly, still breathing rather heavily from the exertion as he rummaged around for his sword and shield style weapon. Finding the object, he dusted it off and powered down back to normal Ranger form.

"_Will somebody please answer their calls?" _A stressed-sounding Tommy Oliver sounded out through the morphers.

"Relax man," Adam replied, "We're all good here."

"Yeah, it was kinda noisy, we probably couldn't hear you," Xander added.

"_Yeah, well…it's nice to see that you've all become accomplished demolition experts," _Tommy replied with a joke.

"Oh please! We did that a while ago."

Tommy laughed, "I'll agree with that. Well, get back here and we can take a look at some kind of battle analysis, meet us at-…"

"Let me guess…The Cyberspace?"

Tommy laughed again. "The Cyberspace."

Chapter 17, complete!

The next chapter will start building towards one of the main arcs in the story, so pay attention to details *hint hint* ;)

Thanks to everyone for still reading!


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